The Marauders and Me
by KairiGokuJr
Summary: Sirius Black gets awakened by his young cousin, Nymphadora and it becomes apparent, his 5th year at Hogwarts has begun. He'll be back with his three best friends, and the loathsome Lily Evans, but between the two of them the feeling is mutual. COMPLETE!
1. Badges and Bitches

_**The Marauders and Me 1**_

"COUSIN! COUSIN! COUSIN!"

Sirius rolled over onto his pillow.

"COUSIN! COUSIN! COUSIN!"

"What?" he asked.

"HOGWARTS! HOGWARTS! HOGWARTS!"

Sirius turned over and sat up.

"Nymphadora get off my bed," Sirius said.

Nymphadora jumped off the bed and onto the floor.

"Thank you for that wake up call," Sirius said. He pushed his straggly black hair from his face and scratched his head.

"SIRIUS!" a group of boys called fro downstairs.

"Jamie here," she smiled through her gapped three year old teeth.

"Out Nymphadora," Sirius said.

Nymphadora Tonks skipped out of the room and downstairs.

Sirius pulled off his pajamas and on his clothes.

"Hurry up! You gotta Remus's new prefect badge. It's great," James laughed.

"Remus is a prefect?" Sirius laughed back.

"I don't think it's funny Sirius!" Remus yelled.

Sirius pulled his school things from his room and brought them down stairs and into the living room of his house where his three best friends waited for him.

James Potter, a black haired, blue eyed, boy who had earned a name for himself by being the biggest troubled maker to step foot in Hogwarts.

Peter a short round kid, one of James's cohorts in crime. He didn't get in trouble quite as much as Sirius and James did but he was up there.

Then there was Remus Lupin. A cohort in crime that didn't get in trouble nearly as much, in fact h hardly got in trouble at all. He was smarter than everyone else in the gang by far.

"The Gang" referred to "The Marauders", a name they had given themselves for causing trouble around Hogwarts intentionally and being extremely successful in there efforts.

"Lemme see the badge Remus," Sirius said.

"No," he said turning away.

"Why not, I'm going to see it anyway," Sirius said.

"But then you're gonna harass me until we get the train," Remus said.

"I think he's going to harass you anyway for becoming a prefect, badge or no badge," Peter put in.

"Thank you for pointing that out," Remus said. He reached into is pocket and pulled out the badge.

"Ooh, shiny," Sirius joked.

"Ha-Ha," Remus replied, sounding very irritated.

"Well then, any idea who the other Prefect is?" Sirius said tossing Remus back his badge.

"No," he said.

"I'm betting on Evans," Peter said.

"Evans," Sirius growled. He hated Lily Evans. Little Miss Queen of Perfection. Teachers Pet. Sure she wasn't ugly at all and sure she was smart as hell, but from where Sirius stood, Lily Evans was a total bitch. Sadly for him, Remus and James both had a thing for her.

"Evans isn't all that bad," James pointed out.

"You always say that but hen she makes me flunks potions class," Sirius said.

"Hey, she did that once during first year and you were being pretty nasty to her," Remus said.

"Yeah. I'd have gotten you in trouble with Slughorn as well," Peter said.

"Do you enjoy being mean today Peter?" Sirius said.

"How was that mean? I was merely saying you were being a git so she decided to get revenge. You should've seen it coming," Peter said.

"No one told you to be so honest," Sirius said.

"That's my job," Peter said proudly.

The kitchen doors flew open and out marched Andromeda Tonks, holding her daughter Nymphadora in her arms.

"The nerve of that woman," Andromeda said. She put Nymphadora down. "Go say goodbye to your cousin. You won't be seeing him for a very long time."

Sirius picked Nymphadora up in his arms and held her.

"Christmas isn't that far away," Sirius said.

"Oh, Sirius, when I say a long time I mean a _long time_," Andromeda said.

"You don't... You don't mean you've been-."

"Burned right off the family tree," Andromeda said. "I would still come back for you, just you Sirius, but if your mother is going to sit around and call my daughter a mudblood all day then-"

"Andromeda, I understand. You go and get as far away from this place as you can," Sirius said. "You Nymphadora you grow up and be my big strong cousin."

"Don't wanna go Siwius," she said digging her face into his shoulder.

"I know and I am going to miss all those wake up calls you give me, but I want you to be happy okay little cousin?" Sirius asked.

"Hmm... Otay," Nymphadora said. She hugged Sirius. She then reached over to James.

"So you remember me now?" James asked.

"By James," she said hugging him.

"Bye Nymphadora," he replied. He put her down and she hugged Peter.

"Peter, bye," she said.

"Bye," Peter replied.

Nymphadora walked over to Remus and hugged.

"I miss you the mostest Wemus," Nymphadora said.

"I'll miss you too kiddo," Lupin said.

"Come on Nymphadora. Time to go," Andromeda said. Nymphadora ran over to her mother. "Ready to go home and see Daddy?"

"No! I wanna go Hogwarts," Nymphadora said.

"Hmm... You can go in... Hmm... Eight years," Andromeda said.

Nymphadora squealed excitedly and said goodbye one last time before she left.

"Such a terrible term, mudblood," James said.

"I know. I even protest Snivelus calling Evans by that name and I have called Evans some pretty bad things," Sirius said.

"So... Should we head out?" Remus asked.

"No we still have one more delay," Sirius said.

"What?" James asked.

"My little brother, Regulus."

"Oh come on. No one is going to miss one fourth year Slytherin," James said.

"Yeah but then my mom would go off and I don't want to have to deal with the howlers at school," Sirius said.

"I'm glad I'm an only child," Peter said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're to perfect. I hate you," Veronica said as she sat her bags under her seat.

"And why don't you ever date? You could get any guy you wanted," Dana added.

"Because," Lily said, "none of them are worth my time."

"What about Potter?" Dana asked. Lily made a retching noise.

"I would sooner drop out of Hogwarts before I ever even considered James Potter," Lily said. "Especially with that _loser_ friend of his, Sirius Black."

"I dunno, I think Sirius is kinda hot," Veronica said.

Lily shuttered.

"I'm repulsed by him," Lily said.

"You're only saying that because he stuck the lollipop in your hair first year," Dana said.

"No. Black is not good looking," Lily said.

"Suit yourself then, but I am going for Black, whether you like it or not," Veronica said.

"I don't care who _you_ date, just keep him away from _me_," Lily said. "So, how do I look?"

"Again, perfect. Did she mention we hate you?" Dana asked.

"Yes but I get that a lot," Lily said. "I just start to tune it out after a while. Helped me build up a tolerance for Black so I can actually stand being the same house as him."

"Alright Little Miss Prefect," Dana said.

"I am ready as I will ever be. Order of business number one, attempt to not give out any detentions," Lily said.

"I dunno. James and his gang do cause a lot of trouble. Maybe you could set them in line," Veronica said. "Of course, let me handle Sirius."

"Whatever," Lily said. She opened the cabin door and started to step out.

"Oh wait," Dana said. Lily turned back around. Veronica got up and held out Lily's badge.

"I'd lose my own head if it wasn't attached," Lily said. Veronica started to pin the button to Lily's shirt. "Ouch. Watch where you're stabbing that needle."

"Well if your ginormous hooters weren't in the way they wouldn't get stabbed," Veronica said. "There. Now go be a Prefect."

Lily stepped out into the hall and was immediately knocked to he ground.

"Black! Get off me!" Lily said. They both rose to their feet only to discover Sirius's hair was caught in her badge.

"This is lovely," Sirius said.

"I hope you're being sarcastic otherwise it's sexual harassment," Lily said.

"Please you're the _last_ person I would want to sexually harass," Sirius said.

"What the hell is going on here?" James asked as he, Remus and Peter joined Sirius in the hallway.

"It is not what it looks like. Believe me," Lily said.

"Same here," Sirius said.

Veronica stepped in and pulled Sirius's hair from Lily's badge.

"You alright there Sirius?" she asked.

"Yes I'm fine Veronica. Thank you," he said politely. Veronica blushed a light shade of pink.

"See, you've gone and gotten my badge all greasy," Lily said rubbing it with the sleeve of her cloak.

"Wow Peter you were right. Evans did make Prefect," Sirius said.

"You were betting or something?" Dana said.

"Not on you," Sirius said.

"And why not? I'm not prefect material?" Dana asked.

"Exactly. You're a bitch. You're even more a bitch than Evans here," Sirius said.

"I resent that," Lily said.

"Good," Sirius said.

"Lily has better things to do with her time than to hear you call her a bitch," Dana said.

"And we've all got better things to do with our time than listen to you bitch about Sirius bitching about Lily being a bitch," James said.

"Can we find a new word other than bitch?" Peter asked.

"Here's one. Goodbye," Lily said. She started her walk down the hall.

"That's two words," James said.

"Want one?" Lily asked.

"Go ahead," James said. Lily flipped him off and continued her merry old way down the hall.

"By the way, goodbye is one word," Remus said.

"How'd we end up with the smart kid?" Sirius asked.

"I ask myself the same thing everyday," Veronica said. "Lily is a bit of an over the top genius."

"So is Remus," the boys said in unison.

"... I'm going to go to the prefects' carriage now. I don't have to take this," he said.

Remus started his walk down the corridor to the Prefects carriage.

"You must be Lupin right?" Head Boy asked him.

"Yes," Remus replied.

"Good. Lily Evans is over there and when you get together start patrolling the corridors," he said.

"Right," Remus said. He waked past him to find Lily standing by himself. Lily saw him and smiled.

"You didn't tell me you were Prefect," Lily said.

"You were to busy shouting at Sirius for me to say anything," Remus said.

Lily chuckled. "I suppose you're right. I don't know why the two of us are so incompatible. I mean he just comes off as a jerk to me. Veronica practically worships the ground he walks on."

"Some people just come off differently to others. Sirius hates you. Peter could careless. James-."

"Has some stalker like qualities and is also an annoying jerk," Lily said.

"Yea," Remus chuckled.

"And you?" Lily asked.

"What about me?" Remus asked.

"What do you think about me?" Lily asked.

"Uh... I think... I think you're pretty great," Remus said.

Lily blushed.

"Well I think you're great as well. As for your friends... I just don't know. I know I hate Sirius. I know I hate James. Peter, sometimes I just wonder if should just hug him or kill him," Lily said.

"He has that effect on everyone. Even us. Don't feel bad. He's very neutral," Remus said.

"Like Switzerland," Lily chuckled.

"Oh look who it is. Evans and her boy friend," a cold voice said.

Remus sighed and turned around. There stood very pale, very skinny, very dark and cold, Severus Snape.

"Hello Snivelus," Remus said.

"He's not my boy friend," Lily corrected.

Remus rolled his eyes and thought of how girls sometimes had one track minds.

"How'd you become Prefect?" Remus asked.

"I don't know but I'm glad I am," Severus said. Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me you mudblood."

Lily shrunk away from him again. The worst thing you could say to a muggle born was to call them a mudblood. Even exceptionally strong people like Lily felt the effects of such a foul name.

"Go crawl back under your rock and play with your chemistry set," Remus said. Severus glared at Remus for a moment and walked away.

Remus turned to Lily whose face had gone pale and her expression sad.

"Just forget him. He doesn't know what he's talking about," Remus said.

Lily nodded but didn't change expression.

Remus hugged her and Lily hugged him back.

"Just think, for you to be muggle born you're smarter than everyone else, better at spells than everyone else and well, you're just plain better," Remus said as he released Lily. She smiled. "That what we like to see on Lily. Smiles."

"Thank you Remus," Lily said.

"Anytime," he said brushing her hair from the side of her face and behind her ear.

Lily blushed for a moment and looked away.

"We should start patrolling the corridors," she said.

"Good idea," Remus said.


	2. Being Civil But Not Really

As much as they loathed each other, the Marauder's, Lily and her friends had always sat together in the Great Hall since their second year. This was mainly because Veronica, liked and was friends with Sirius and Lily was friends with Remus. Because Dana and Peter were impartial and James was in love with Lily, they were able to maintain a suitable amount of peace.

"So this year I'm looking for a 500 point season," James said. "You gonna join up this year Remus?"

"You couldn't pay me to play Quidditch," he replied.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Something about hovering 100 feet in the air with large metal objects being thrown at me just doesn't sound fun," Remus said.

"But that's the fun of it! Especially during lightening storms. The thrill of being in a wide open space and knowing any moment you could get struck by lightening, it's a great feeling," James said.

"Well someone has to be there to drag you to the hospital wing when you showboat and end up unconscious with you shoulder where your shoulder blade should be," Remus answered.

"To graphic of an anatomy lesson while we're eating Remus," Peter said.

"That... That doesn't even seem possible when you think about it," Dana said.

Lily shook her head.

"The arm would hang off him maybe if was dislocated but even if it were broken I don't see it in his shoulder blade," Lily said.

"Did you miss what Peter said? We are eating," Veronica reiterated.

"So you're saying if Quidditch weren't so dangerous you might play?" Sirius asked.

"I guess I would but you guys practice so much I don't know how I'd get in anytime to study," Remus said.

"Study time? Remus you need a girl friend," James said.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"Because if he doesn't have something to do at least he'll have _someone_ to do," James said. Immediately, James, Peter and Sirius began to laugh.

"That was not funny despite what you may think Potter," Lily said.

"Lighten up Evans," James said. "You need a better sense of humor."

"Maybe I don't need a better sense of humor, maybe you do," Lily said.

"Or maybe he's just a boy Lily," Dana said. Lily sighed and nodded.

"You're right. He's a boy which is why he found it funny and I did not," Lily said.

"What's gender got to do with anything?" Sirius asked.

"As a girl your brain processes differently than mine. Something's amuse you that don't amuse me," Lily said.

"Well that's because your brain tells you that different things are funny. It doesn't have to do with whether or not I'm a boy or a girl. Remus didn't laugh and he's a boy and Veronica laughed her ass off and she's a girl," Sirius said.

"Roni wasn't laughing," Lily said.

"Actually I was. You just couldn't tell because I was holding pudding in front of my face," Veronica said looking away from Lily.

"Okay, so you're right for once out of the other million times Lily's been right. Pat yourself on the back," Dana said.

Dumbledore rose to his feet and ended the feast. Lily and Remus hung behind so that they could rally the first years. The rest of their friends walked up to the common room.

James plopped down on the couch with Sirius and Peter.

"Why do you suppose McGonagall and Dumbledore picked Remus for prefect?" James asked as Veronica and Dana walked upstairs.

"Because unlike the three of us, he doesn't have a record," Peter said.

"No he has a record it just doesn't have a large black mark going all the way through it," Sirius corrected. "Besides, usually Remus just gets roped up into things and has good intentions where as we... Well we're a different story all together."

"Hey Peter, Sirius," James said pulling a ball out of his book bag, "go long."

The three got off the couch and spread out through the common room and started to toss the ball around.

James backed up to the window and tossed the ball to the door. Sirius made a mad dash to catch it when the door swung open and he ran right into it.

Lily, Remus and a group of first years stood and watched as Sirius screamed in pain.

"Does that happen all the time, Lily?" a young first year girl asked.

"Of course," she said. "You know how every village has an idiot?" The girl nodded. "Well this is the Gryffindor idiot. His name is Tumbles."

"Why did your mum name you Tumbles?" the girl asked.

"My name is NOT Tumbles. It's Sirius. And her name is not Lily. It's Dandelion," Sirius said angrily.

The girl laughed.

"Where are our rooms Dandelion and Remus?" the girl asked.

"Girls dorms are up the stairs on your right same for the boys on your left," Remus chuckled. The first years piled up stairs except for the little girl.

"I'm Sam. Thanks for the help Dandelion and Remus. Nice meeting you Tumbles."

She ran upstairs.

"You're a very pleasant person Evans. You ended up making us both look like idiots," Sirius complained.

"It seemed appropriate with you running into the door and all," Lily said. "After all you did call me bitch when we were on the train."

Sirius groaned.

"I called you a bitch because you do stuff like this!" Sirius said with frustration. He looked as though he was going to strangle her.

"Alright, Sirius, leave her alone," Remus said.

"I can't help it. She's so aggravating," Sirius growled.

"Sirius take it easy," James said coming over to him.

"How can I take it easy with her filling my life with misery and woe with her very presence?" Sirius asked.

"Okay, even I know I'm not that terrible to you," Lily remarked.

"How do you know that miss know-it-all? You don't know how I think. You don't know me," Sirius said.

"I think you'd better go to bed Sirius," Peter said.

"Yes, otherwise I'm going to kill her," Sirius said.

Peter walked with Sirius upstairs.

"You give him too hard of a time," James said.

"I could say the same thing about you and Severus," Lily said.

"That's different," James said.

"True. I don't go around hexing Black at random moments of the day when I'm bored and then Dana and Roni don't jump up and cheer 'again again!'," Lily said. "I may not like Black but as long he doesn't upset me I'll leave him alone."

Lily stomped off upstairs in a fit.

"Are we that bad to Snivelus?" James asked. Remus shrugged.

"I don't participate in such tomfoolery," Remus said.

"Is that your favorite word or something?" James asked. "What the hell does tomfoolery mean anyway?"

"Bullshit," Remus said.

"Only you could find a sophisticated way to swear," James said.

Remus laughed. Tomfoolery wasn't a sophisticated word.

"So... Evans," James began. "She's totally into me."

Remus shrug/nodded at this like he always did. Not yes, not no, very impartial. Lily hated James with a blazing passion. James hardly noticed this because half the time she was busy screaming at Sirius, who she disliked even more, so when she got mad at James it failed in comparison and he would continue to live in his own fictional world.

"Come Remus you have some kind of opinion on the situation. I think this year she may actually say yes to me or at least say no to me I a more polite manner," James said.

"You do realize she has to stop hating you before your relationship goes anywhere else?" Remus asked, a chuckle in his voice.

"That is only a minor set back in my plan," James said.

"So you have a plan to win her heart?" Remus asked.

"Of course I do. I play Quidditch. I am all about the planning. It's prioritizing I'm bad at," James said. Remus nodded in agreement. Breathing heavily, he sat down in a chair near by.

"Tired?" James asked.

"Full moon was yesterday. I'm still shaking it off," Remus replied.

"Well, this year we've got a whole new way of dealing with your furry little problem," James said.

"Is it legal?" Remus asked.

"Well, not technically... No," James answered honestly.

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"We send first years up to the shack with you every full moon that way you can let loose all of your instincts," James said.

"Not funny... Not funny all," Remus said.

"Seriously we will help you this year. It still isn't legal what we're doing but it is helping," James said. "Besides, we can't get caught this way."

"You always say that but then what happens? You get caught," Remus said.

James laughed. "This time it's serious. It's people's lives. Not even I joke about that." James headed over to the stair. "You coming up or do you need time to catch your breath?"

"I'll be up in a second," Remus chuckled.

James jumped up the stairs to his dorm where his two friends were sitting and conversing.

"Good point Peter. If I don't talk to her she won't talk to me," Sirius said.

"I'm a genius," Peter said.

"You guys... You don't think Remus is into Evans do you?" James asked.

Sirius and Peter quickly exchanged glances. Of course Remus was into Lily. It was obvious. James was also into Lily. The issue was that Lily didn't like James but obviously liked Remus.

"Course not," Peter lied. "Why do you ask?"

"Just paranoid I guess," James said.

"And even if he did like Lily would he really make a move on her?" Sirius asked.

"I dunno. I'm just being stupid I guess," James said sitting down on his bed.

Outside of his dorm, into the hallway and up the flight of the stairs to the right you would find the girl dorms where Lily Evans and her friends conversed with one another as well. Their other roommate, Lisa, was serving a detention she hadn't finished from the year before.

"How was prefect duty?" Dana asked.

"Fantastic. The first years are very well behaved and if they get out of control Remus knew how to maintain them," Lily said.

"There you go again talking about Lupin," Veronica said.

"I was talking about my prefect duties. He just happens to be the other prefect," Lily said.

"And you're not thrilled about that at all," Veronica said sarcastically. Lily rolled her eyes. "You like Remus. Admit it. It's not as if anyone cares."

"Well, James does," Lily said.

"And since when did you care about what James Potter thought?" Veronica asked.

"Since never but think about it. If I did end up going out with Remus, James would have a fit. Remus is his best friend and they're really great friends since the moment they met. It would be terrible for all that to get destroyed over a girl," Lily said.

"Lily you care too much. What if James supported you and Remus?" Dana asked.

"When Hell freezes over. Honestly, James has fancied since we were in our first year," Lily said.

"And so has Remus," Dana said.

Lily sighed.

"No, I'm not going for it. I may not like James at all but I'm not worth a friendship being destroyed," Lily said.

Veronica sighed.

"I can still go out with Sirius though, right?"

Dana and Lily exchanged glances.

"Good night, Roni," Lily said not answering her question.


	3. Eye of Newt

**A/N:** I know, half these people in this episode weren't even in school together and probably aren't even the same age but work with me people. When I do stuff like this, it's called a plot device.

**The Marauders and Me 3**

"So do you think James will end up sitting with you in potions again?" she asked.

"I've come to terms with this," Lily sighed as they walked into class. Every year since their first year they'd sat in the same seats.

Lily took her usual seat and sat all her things out. Professor Slughorn sat at the front of the class smiling brightly as the rest of the students piled in.

"Welcome students to your 5th year of potions. Aren't you excited?" he asked.

There were groans through out the class room as everyone sat down.

James sat next to Lily.

"So you saved me a seat this year?" he asked.

"No, I didn't," Lily said.

James took his stuff out and sat down next to her.

"Face it Evans," he said cocking his eyebrow, "you know you want me."

"Ewe..." Lily said repulsed.

The girls snickered as James sat down in pulled his things out.

Slughorn began class as he always did and gave out a potion for all the students to make.

"Evans, how much of this am I supposed to use?" James asked.

"How much does it say on the board Potter? That should be a swell indicator," Lily replied.

"It just says add a newt's eye," James said.

"Then add a newt's eye Potter. You're not stupid are you?" Lily asked.

"No," James answered. Lily sighed.

"That was a rhetorical question," Lily said.

James looked at the jar with eyes of newt in them. He opened it, turned it upside down into the cauldron. He waited for a reaction but nothing happened.

"Well, I guess I did it right," he said.

SPLOOSH!

His potion had exploded into his face and Lily's covering them in a grey thick slime.

"Oops..." James said. "sorry-." Lily hushed him. "I'm really-." Lily hushed him again. She wiped a small bit of the ooze from her face.

She pulled her wand from her pocket and pointed it at herself.

"_Scourgify_," she said. Immediately she was clean. James looked at her in awe, still covered completely in ooze. She sighed. "_Scourgify_." James was now clean as well. "Are you on drugs Potter?"

"...No," he said.

"Alright then..." Lily said. She wasn't speaking, but the anger showed on her face.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know, I think I liked her yelling at me more than I like her being silent," James said as he tossed a ball up and down while lying on his bed.

"I think it's an improvement," Sirius said.

James threw the ball at him.

"What do you expect James? Not even Lockhart, a magnet for everything bad in the world, managed to screw up his potion," Peter said.

"Thanks for the support Peter," James said. "Evans definitely hates me."

"I hate to point this out but she's always hated you," Sirius said.

"Well I'm sure Remus will talk her down while they're out doing whatever it is that prefects do," Peter said changing the subject before James could go off.

James shrugged.

"Then she can go back to verbally hating me," James said.

"Why do you even like Evans?" Sirius asked.

"Why do you like Veronica?" James asked.

"I don't like Veronica, thank you very much," Sirius said.

"And I suppose you were just saying hello when you were snogging behind the green house earlier?" James asked.

Sirius's face turned pink.

"You saw that?" he asked.

"EVERYONE saw that. The greenhouse is made of glass 'tard," Peter said.

"So you wanna rethink your answer?" James asked.

"Yeah... She only likes me for my body," Sirius said. "And can you really blame her?"

"No... Once you get down to it, Sirius, you're really not that good of a catch," Peter said. James snorted and began to laugh.

"What do you mean I'm not that great of a catch? Any girl who's anyone wants a piece of Sirius Black. I am a sexy beast," Sirius said boldly.

"Last I checked Evans was probably the best you could do in this school and she's-."

"Into Remus," James said.

The room went silent.

"So what Lily likes Remus, it doesn't mean that it's mutual," Sirius said.

"I respect both of you to much to bullshit you so don't do it to me," James said.

Peter and Sirius sighed.

"Yeah... Remus likes Lily," Peter said.

"But the chances he'll go out with her are slim because you're one of his best mates," Sirius added.

The door opened and in walked Remus. The room was eerily quiet.

"You guys okay...? Sir Nicholas didn't just come in here and half way pull his head off did he?" Remus asked.

"No, it's nothing," James said. "So we're going to Hogsmeade in a few weeks."

"Yep," Peter said helping the awkward silence pass.

"We gonna hang out at the shack like we always do because that's getting pretty lame," Sirius said.

"Well whatever you do I can't make it," Remus said.

"Why? You got a date or something?" Peter asked.

"Yes, actually," Remus said.

"What? Who is it?" Sirius asked.

"Is it Lily?" James forwardly.

"No... Why would it be Lily? She's nice and all but, no," Remus said.

"Then who is?" Peter asked.

"Lisa," Remus said.

"Lisa? She's even more of a bitch then Evans and Dana combined," Sirius said. "And she's UGLY."

"Why do you sit with her in potions class?" Peter asked.

"She sat next to me and I was to afraid to tell her to move," Sirius said.

"I'll be perfectly honest with nyou, she scares me," James said. "She's very manly."

Remus shrugge as there was a knock on the door. He reached around and opened it. There stood Dana.

"Oh... It's you," Sirius said.

"Believe me, I'm not thrilled to be here either," Dana said.

"Then be gone," Sirius said.

"Fine. I won't deliver Roni's message," Dana said.

"Okay! Wait a second," Sirius said. "What does she want?"

"To know if you're free for Hogsmeade," Dana said.

"Yes I am," Sirius asked quickly.

"Alright, and what about you Peter?" Dana asked.

"Who wants to know?" Peter asked.

"I do," Dana said blushing and looking down at her feet.

"Course I'm free, for you at least," Peter said.

"Whoa, wait a second, what am I supposed when we go to Hogsmeade?" James said.

"Walk around and look pathetic like you do in DADA class," Dana said.

"What's Lily doing?" James asked.

"She's going with Gilderoy," Dana said.

"What?" James asked.

"I know. It's really weird but to each their own," Dana said. She walked out of the dorm.

"Think of it this way, there are a few weeks until we go to Hogsmeade. Someone will go with you," Peter said.

James looked over at Peter.

"You've gotten really mean Peter," James said.


	4. Psycho Lily

Lily was sitting in the common room reading a book silently as Gilderoy looked himself over in the mirror.

"You know what I've just realized Lily?" Gilderoy asked.

"No," she answered. She'd been listening to Gilderoy fawn over himself for about an hour now and it was driving her mad.

"I'm gorgeous," he said. Lily slammed her head down on the table. "Do you have a headache?"

"Now I do," she answered. He walked over and patted her on the back.

"There, there, Lily. I bet one look at me and it will all go away," Gilderoy said.

Lily groaned in frustration as the Marauders entered the common room.

"Geez! I can't take you anymore! You're a self absorbed loser! I'd rather sit in my dorm all day long than go to Hogsmeade with you tomorrow!" Lily screeched. Gilderoy looked at Lily in horror.

"Don't hurt me! I'm too beautiful!" he said. Lily lunged at him, finally fed up. Peter and Remus grabbed her right before she reached his throat.

"Run, Lockhart! Run away!" Peter said. Gilderoy gathered his things and went upstairs to his room. Peter and Remus let Lily go. She calmed herself down.

She sat back down in her chair and picked up her book.

"Are you okay, Lily? You went kinda psycho on Lockhart," Remus asked sitting down. Peter looked back at James. He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes uncaringly.

"Of course I am. Boys like that are a knut a dozen," Lily said reading through her book.

"Oh... So, okay, you're okay. Good," Remus said. He stood up, but Lily pulled him back down.

"Why can't more boys be like you Remus?" Lily asked.

James walked upstairs. Sirius and Peter followed.

"Uh... I don't know," Remus said awkwardly.

"Lisa seems to really like you. I mean I applaud you for dating such a possessive, domineering, and to be honest, ugly girl and still being able to be as sweet and kind as you are," Lily said.

Remus looked around. Everything had gotten really awkward.

"I guess I do deserve a pat on the back for that," Remus said.

"Are you are submissive person?" Lily asked.

"No," Remus asked.

"Then don't expect your relationship to last long," Lily said.

Remus paused. "I'll keep thath in mind. In the meantime I gotta go do my homework... And everyone else's."

"I share your pain. Sometimes I think I'm too nice," Lily said. "If I ever have a daughter and she's as smart as me I hope she make everyone else do their own homework."

"Well I hope she doesn't lash out at people to much either," Remus said.

"I lash out at people?" Lily asked.

"Peter and I just restrained you from killing Lockhart," Remus said.

"Oh yeah... That would be a good thing," Lily said.

"Well, see you later," Remus said. He ran upstairs. Lily sank back into her seat as Veronica and Dana walked into the room.

"Lily, why so down? Where's that sexy beast Lockhart?" Dana asked.

"Aren't you going out with Peter?" Lily asked.

"Not officially," she answered. "Besides, I'm allowed to look."

"Well, I chased of Lockhart and he deserved it. He's so full of himself. I'd rather eat a bucket of flobberworms than go out with him," Lily said.

"Choose, James or Lockhart and be honest?" Veronica said.

"Well that would mean I'd have to choose the lesser of two evils... Potter I suppose. He usually shuts up after I yell. Lockhart just goes on and on and on and on and he thinks he's the most gorgeous man on the planet and I am completely disgusted with him," Lily admitted.

"Is that so Evans?" James asked from the stairs.

"Oh, God! How much did you hear?" Lily asked.

"Enough to restore my hopes," James said coolly.

"Well let me shoot them down again. You're an ass," Lily said.

"That won't work Evans. I am the lesser of two evils. You know you want me," James said.

"Ewe... No," Lily said.

"I can't be _that_ repulsive," James said.

"No," Dana answered, honestly.

"Aren't you dating Peter?" James asked.

"Unofficially! Geez," Dana said.

"But as I was saying, you know you want me Evans," James repeated.

"Whatever," Lily said.

"Come on Evans, you know you want there to be something between," James said.

"Potter, there is something between us," Lily said sweetly.

"Really?" James asked.

"Yes... A vacuum," Lily said. Lily gathered her things, walked past James on the stairs, flashing him a quick smile and went to her room. Remus came down the stairs.

"Hey, Remus, if Lily said there's a vacuum between us what does she mean?" James asked.

"... Nothing. A vacuum is nothing. It's like space... Outer space... Where there is nothing and there is not enough stuff in the entire universe to ever fill it up," Remus said.

"Ouch... She used science to hurt me," James said.

"That's not science. You read a dictionary you'd find that out," Veronica said.

"... You're not a very nice person to be Lily's best friend," James said.

"Hey what can I say? It's in my nature," Veronica said.

"Well, it's in my nature to shove my foot up the ass of those who are not very nice," James said.

"Guess you'd have to remove you're own foot from your ass first then huh?" Veronica said. She and Dana went upstairs. James looked to Remus.

"What?" James asked.

"I think she was implying that you're not a very nice person," Remus said. He sat down on the stairs.

"Hey, Remus, you okay?" James asked.

"Tired is all," he complianed.

"... Oh, full moon tomorrow night," James said. Remus nodded. "Are you going to be able to go to Hogsmeade?"

"I should be. It doesn't really affect me until the evening time," Remus said.

"Guess you can't stay very late," James said.

"And what is this master plan of yours that's not legal that's supposed to help me?" Remus asked.

"You'll find out tomorrow. After we get back from Hogsmeade we'll meet at the Whomping Willow before sundown," James said.

"The Whomping Willow? You do realize you can't beat this out of people?" Remus asked.

"I'm not that stupid Remus," James said. "And I do consider myself to not be very bright a lot of the time but I do have common sense."

"Right," Remus said.

"It'll all be fine. Have I ever lead you wrong?" James asked.

"Yes," Remus answered.

"Hey, your hair grew back didn't it?" James asked.

"Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that you had some very bad ideas," Remus said.

"Well like I said, I may not be very bright but I have common sense," James said.

"I'm not so sure of that," Remus said.

"You never are you paranoid loser," James said.

"Well better safe than sorry," Remus said. "Remember who'll be dragging your mangled body off the Quidditch pitch when you do something stupid," Remus said.

"Why is it always you?" James asked.

"Because Peter always faints and Sirius has to help him," Remus said.

"Oh..." James paused. "I have to ask Remus, do you like Lily and be honest."

"What is it with you thinking I like Lily recently? Did Lisa just vanish off the face of the planet?" Remus asked.

"No, it's just that... Just because you're going out with Lisa doesn't mean that you like her," James said.

"Why would I go out with a girl I don't like?" Remus asked.

"No. I wasn't generalizing. I was talking literally about Lisa. Just because you're going out with her doesn't mean you like her. I mean for all we know, her domineering ass could be black mailing you," James said.

"... No, James, I don't like Lily. She's just a very good friend of mine," Remus said.

"I don't get it... How are you friends with Lily and not me?" James asked.

"Because according to Peter the first thing you did when you met her in first year was hit on her," Remus said.

"Ladies dig the Quidditch injuries," James said.

"Not if she's a muggleborn who's never heard of Quidditch," Remus said. James thought for a moment.

"Damn... I messed up," James said.


	5. Hogsmeade

**The Marauders and Me**

"Are you sure you don't want us to ditch Peter and Sirius because we can," Dana asked. Lily shook her head.

"It's fine you guys. You have fun. I'll be fine, I promise," Lily said sweetly.

"You sure?" Veronica asked.

"Yes. Pettigrew and Black are over there waiting for you and if you make Black come over here I'll have to hurt you, now get a move on. Have fun. I'm very resourceful. I can find something to do and if I get bored I'll just go back up to Hogwarts and study for a bit," Lily said.

"No! No studying! Have fun today. Please don't be boring," Veronica said.

"Remember who we're dealing with Ronny. Studying is fun for Lily," Dana said.

"Go on. Have fun. Make smart decisions, remember Veronica, no glove no love," Lily said.

"I can't believe you'd think so low of me," Veronica said.

"I don't think low of you," Lily said.

"Evans! Stop holding them up!" Sirius yelled.

"I think low of him," Lily said flipping Sirius the bird.

Dana and Veronica walked over to Sirius and Peter. Lily let out a deep sigh as they walked away.

"Evans!" an annoying voice called out. Lisa obviously. Lisa ran up beside her. Lily was taken back by her "bold" appearance.

She wore red open toed pumps, black fishnets, a black mini and a red tank top.

"Are you late to the one woman hooker parade or something?" Lily asked.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that," Lisa said.

"I'll pretend you're not dressed the way you are," Lily mumbled. "What do you want?"

"You know where Remus is?" Lisa asked.

_Hiding from you most likely,_ Lily thought to herself.

"Why would I know where he is?" Lily asked.

"You're one of his best friends. Where is he?" Lisa asked.

"Haven't seen him since Prefect Duty last night," Lily admitted. "Sorry I'm such lousy help. Why don't you ask Potter or Peter or Black."

"I did and they all said he was hiding from me," Lisa said.

_Well it's a likely story,_ Lily though to herself again. "Did you pick a meeting place? I mean, did he tell you to meet him somewhere?"

"No, he didn't," Lisa said.

"Did he give you any reason to think that he wasn't meeting you? That he'd changed his mind?" Lily asked.

"Well, he did say that is was over but nobody breaks up with Lisa Rivers," Lisa said.

"Well I'm sorry Lisa I can't help you. I have no idea where my buddy Remus is," Lily said. _Though I'm sure he's hiding from you now._

"If you know where he is and you're not telling me, you've got it coming," Lisa said threateningly. Lily swallowed hard.

"Alright. I'll find you if I see him," Lily said shakily. Lisa glared at her before walking away. Lily took a deep breath. "Poor Remus."

"Lily," a voice whispered behind her. She turned around. No one was there. "Lily," it whispered again.

"Hello?" Lily asked worriedly. The space in front of her became distorted and bit by bit Remus appeared, holding James' invisibility cloak. "Merlin's beard, Remus, you scared me."

"Sorry," he said. "You won't tell Lisa where I am will you?"

"Of course not," Lily said. "Why'd you break up with her anyway?" Remus stared blankly at Lily.

"I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out," Remus said.

Lily sighed. "So you really were hiding from her."

"Of course I was. She may've killed me if I wasn't. That is a girl who needs help," Remus said.

"Well what are you going to do? You can't hide from her forever. Hogsmeade is to small," Lily said.

"Well, I needed to ask you a favor," Remus said.

"Of course," Lily said.

"Well, James is also here by himself and so are you and now so am I. Of course if Lisa finds me, we are liable to be killed. So I was wondering, I could hang out with you hiding under James's invisibility cloak and James could come with us so it doesn't look like you're talking to the air," Remus said.

"No because then it would give the appearance that I was here with him," I said.

"Please Lily," Remus asked.

"Not even for you Remus," Lily said. Remus sighed.

"You can't make him happy for one day. I'm sure he'd leave you alone for a while if you did. It's just one day and you never have to be bothered with him again, I will try and make sure of it," Remus said. Lily stared at him. "Please Lily. I'll be your best friend."

"I am your best friend," she replied

"All the more reason help me out," Remus said.

"Alright! Alright! I'll wait here while you go and fetch Potter," Lily said.

"Oh Evans!" James called out to Lily. He reached Lily and Remus smiling cockily. "Did my name pass your sweet lips?"

"Sadly," Lily said, glumly.

"So, you gonna lend our buddy Remus a hand? Keep him from being slain?" James asked.

"Yes, but if you touch me Potter I swear I'll call Lisa in a heartbeat," Lily threatened.

"Oh, no fair," James said.

"You should be happy I agreed to do this in the first place," Lily said, annoyance in her tone. "Potter, you had better leave me alone after this."

"You know I can't leave _you_ alone Evans," James said.

"That's a shame... You know what else would be a shame? If I just happen to say 'Lisa I know where Remus is' really, really, loud," Lily said.

"James… I'll hurt you," Remus said.

"How do you know I'll leave you alone after this?" James asked.

"I guess I'll just have to _trust_ you won't I?" Lily asked. "Besides, I'm doing this for Remus, not for you. You just happen to benefit from this."

"You won't regret this Lily," Remus said putting on the cloak.

"No, Remus, I probably will," Lily said. "Where to first then?"

"I dunno. Where do you usually go?" Remus asked.

"I usually just go and hang out with the girls at _The Three Broomsticks_," Lily said.

"That sounds pretty boring," James said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"What do you usually do then?" Lily asked.

"I'll show you," James said. He grabbed Lily hand.

"Didn't I say don't touch me?" she asked and James quickly released her.

"Er, follow me," James said.

Reluctantly, Lily followed James . They walked down the road to where Hogsmeade ended and down the hill to a slightly forested area.

"Where are you taking me, Potter?" Lily asked.

"You'll see," James said. "Besides, I doubt Remus would let me take you anywhere you're not supposed to be."

"He's right," Remus said.

They neared the edge of the wooded forest and came to a long, rusted fence. On the other side, a short distance away stood-.

"The Shrieking Shack? You usually hang out at the Shrieking Shack? You brought me to the Shrieking Shack?" Lily asked. "Remus, I thought you weren't going to let him take me anywhere that we're not supposed to be."

"Well. . . This is an exception to the rule," Remus said pulling off the invisibility cloak.

"This had better not be anything dangerous or stupid or that could potentially ruin my Hogwarts career," Lily said.

"Evans, you worry too much," James said climbing over the fence with Remus.

"That's because you make worry. I'm scared about the trouble you might get me into," Lily said. Remus helped her over the fence. They walked to the shrieking shack.

James pushed the door open, "Milady," he said holding it open for Lily.

"Thanks," she said. They walked inside. "Ewe. . . It's filthy in here."

Remus closed the door. "Home sweet home."

They walked upstairs to the top floor. In this room there was a bed, a mirror, a desk, and two chairs, all of which were covered in dust.

"Gross," Lily said. She pointed her wand at a chair, "_Scourgify."_ She plopped down into it.

"I thought you weren't allowed to do magic outside of school," James said.

"The ministry can tell when magic is being done but not who's doing it," Lily said picking her finger nails.

"You know the Whomping Willow leads here, _Remus_," James said. Remus looked up at him.

"Of course I do. How else do you think I. . . Is that what you were planning?" Remus asked. "To come here tonight during the full moon when I transform?"

The whole time Remus was talking James was waving his arms in the air violently as Lily listened to every word he said.

"Transform? Full moon?" Lily asked. Remus spun around and looked to her.

"Uh-oh," he said.

"You mean. . . You're a werewolf?" Lily asked.

"James!" Remus yelled at him.

"James? You're the one that spilled it!" James said.

"But you brought it up!" Remus argued.

"Boys! Boys! Boys! Boys, calm down! Am _I_ going to tell anyone?" Lily asked jumping to her feet. "Remus, you're one of my best friends. I can't believe you actually kept it from me, like I would tell a soul."

". . . True," Remus said.

"Potter, what are you planning to do bringing Remus up here anyway?" Lily asked.

"Yes. . . You did mention it was something illegal," Remus said.

"Illegal?" Lily asked. "You're sneaking him out of school, under a dangerous tree, off school grounds _and_ it's something illegal?"

"But we've got good intentions," James said.

"This I have got to hear," Lilly said plopping down in the chair again.

"Well. . . Peter, Sirius and I have been practicing transfiguration all summer and we have succeeded in doing something that not you, Evans, can even do!" James said.

Lily and Remus both burst out into uncontrollable bouts of laughter.

"I hardly find this humorous," James said.

"I think it's hysterical. Transfiguration is your worst subject," Lily said. "Prove whatever it is that you're planning and I'll keep my mouth shut."

James nodded and backed away from them. He took a deep breathe and closed his eyes and then he changed.

Lily's jaw dropped and Lupin stood wide eyed.

"You're an unregistered animagus? Why, Potter, I think just a little bit better of you, except for the fact that, you know, it's illegal which brings you back down to your regular level," Lily said. "But you get points with me for helping Remus."

James turned back into himself

"So, do I have a chance at you now?" James asked hopefully. Lily grimaced.

"Keep dreaming, Potter."


	6. Stilettos

Lily sat in the common room pretending to read a book by the window. The sun was going to set in a few minutes and then _The Marauders_ would be going to the Shrieking Shack to help Remus.

Sirius was sitting on the couch pretending to do homework and constantly looking at his watch. Apparently they had set up a time they're going to be meeting.

Soon, Sirius put his books and things away and stood from the couch. He walked to he door. Lily carelessly tossed her book aside and raced ahead of Sirius at the portrait hole. He sighed when he saw her blocking his way.

"I promise your friend's innocence is still in tact. Can you please move?" Sirius asked.

"I want to help," Lily said eagerly.

"Help what?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Don't be stupid. I want to helped you with Remus," Lily said. Sirius sighed and pulled her away from the portrait hole.

"They told me _specifically_ to not let you help," Sirius said.

"And why not?" Lily asked.

"Because you'll get in the way. Besides, can you transform into an animal that can hold off a werewolf or get past the Whomping Willow?" Sirius asked.

"Well there has to be **something** I can do," Lily pleaded. Remus was her friend too and it was unfair that she wasn't able to help him.

"'Fraid not," Sirius said starting to walk away.

"Black, Remus is my friend just as much as he is yours. There has to be something that I can do to help," Lily said desperately. "Please?"

Sirius glanced around for a moment and then sighed.

"If I let you help will you promise to go away?" Sirius said.

"Yes," Lily said, brightly.

"Clothes," Sirius asked.

"Beg your pardon?" Lily asked not quite understanding what she was meant to do.

"Well, when Remus turns into a werewolf his clothes don't exactly fit him anymore because he grows to be the size of a house. So unless you want Remus walking back into the castle stark naked, which will be really hard to explain to the rest of the student body, bring him some clothes. Sit them on the inside of the passage to the Whomping Willow so they'll be there in the morning," Sirius said.

"You want me. . . To bring him clothes?" Lily asked.

"Unless you _want_ to see Remus in the nude because that can be arranged," Sirius said.

Lily sighed.

"Fine," Lily said.

"Fantastic. Just some trousers, a shirt, shoes, socks and underpants-."

"Whoa, wait a second, I am **not** touching Remus' underpants," Lily said with a laugh.

"Oh, come on, you know you want to," Sirius said.

"And how pray tell am I supposed to get past the Willow without getting smashed to bits?" Lily asked.

"You're a smart girl," Sirius walking to the door. "I'm sure you'll figure something out."

Sirius walked out of the portrait hole.

-----------------

The next morning, Lily was sitting at breakfast with her friends and Lisa as usual. She had managed to get past the Whomping Willow by casting the immobulus charm on it and sat the clothes inside the small pathway underneath the tree.

"I didn't even know I owned these jeans," Remus said as he entered the Great Hall.

"You do look rather dashing," Peter said.

"We should have Evans pick out your clothes more often," Sirius said.

"Very funny," Remus said taking a seat.

"So where have you boys been all night?" Dana asked.

"Out and about as usual," James said.

"That's to bad," Veronica said twisting her hair around her finger. "I was hoping to see you again Sirius."

"I was thinking bout you the whole time I was gone," Sirius said. "Then again how could I forget about you?"

"Oh, I knew you wouldn't forget," Veronica said.

James looked up from his plate and glared at Sirius.

"Do we really have to talk about this while we're eating breakfast?" James asked.

"You liar," Lily said glaring at Sirius as well. "You said my friend's innocence was still intact."

"I may've said that. . . But shoot. . . I say a lot of things," Sirius said.

"Suddenly, I'm not very hungry anymore," Dana pushing her plate away.

Remus quickly ducked under the table nearly knocking Lily and Sirius from their seats.

"Watch it! What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Shut up. I'm not here," Remus said.

"What are you-?"

"Where's Remus?" A voice asked from behind. Lily turned around to see Lisa.

"Hello roomy," Lily said with a smile.

"Where is Remus?" Lisa asked.

"Uhm. . . Uh. . . I don't know," Lily said appearing as though she were holding back a laugh. She kicked Remus under the table and he groaned in pain.

Lisa looked suspiciously at her.

"Ow! Evans, why'd you kick me?" Peter said pretending his leg were in pain.

"Sorry, it was an accident," Lily said. "But, Lisa. . . We don't know where Remus is. Probably still in bed."

James nodded.

"I've got my eye on you," she said and walked away.

Lily, James and Sirius immediately looked to Remus.

"I'm so sorry Remus," Lily said.

"No I'm fine. . . I never wanted kids anyway," Remus said. He was lying in the fetal position under the table.

"Why'd you kick him?" James asked.

"His cloak has those little fuzzies on it and they were rubbing against my leg and making me laugh and Lisa would've known I was lying and kicked my ass and then found Remus and destroyed him as well," Lily said. "I was really trying to help you."

Remus managed to climb out from under the table and sit down.

"You need some ice or something?" Peter asked.

"No. . . I'll be fine," Remus said. "What the hell Lily? You're wearing stilettos! Going around kicking people!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Sirius said. "You're lucky those heels didn't stab him."

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to kick you _there_," Lily said sincerely.

"You could rub it and make him feel better," Veronica joked.

Most everyone at the table glared at her with the exception of Sirius who also found it funny.

"Well, I feel unwelcome here," Veronica said getting up from the table.

"Likewise," Sirius said. They both left without another word.


	7. Slugs

Lily found herself sitting in the common room reading a nice book on a quiet Saturday night. It was nice to say the least. Usually it was cluttered by loathsome first years or other annoying students. But right it was rather empty. Veronica sat on the couch reading _Witch Weekly_. On the other side of the room Dana observed Remus and Peter playing Wizard chess. The rest of the room was completely empty.

The common room door opened at 11:30 and entered laughing James and Sirius.

Lily looked up from her book and rolled her eyes.

_Gits,_ she thought to herself.

"What's so funny?" Remus inquired as Peter moved his piece and smiled happily because he now appeared to be winning.

"We've just gotten out of detention with Professor Slughorn and there was a bit of an accident with some laughing gas is all," Sirius said.

"We'll be fine," James said. The pair was both still laughing.

"… Check mate," Remus said.

"What?" Peter asked. Dana patted him on the back.

"You're just set a new record Remus. That's five minutes," Lily said.

"Evans! I didn't see you there," James said, his laughter dying.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't," Lily said glumly.

"Don't be that way," James said, his laughter quieting even more.

"Yeah… I'll work on that," Lily said reading her book.

"Yes! Progress!" James said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"What are you reading anyway, Lily?" Remus asked.

"The Crucible," Lily said. "It's a play about the Witch Trials over in the United States in 1692."

"Actually," James said, "The united wasn't the united states until 1776. So technically it would've still been a British colony."

"Oh, wow… You're not completely stupid," Lily said.

"Why are you reading about the witch hunt anyway? Every time I hear about it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach," Dana said with a shutter.

"Well it let's you learn a little bit about our history, even if these people weren't really witches and wizards, it shows you what would've happened if our people were actually caught," Lily said.

"Well it gives me goose bumps," Peter said.

"Wow…" Veronica said. "The cucumbers don't do anything… How interesting."

Lily rolled her as someone came thumping downstairs. They looked to see Lisa.

Lisa stood at the bottom of the stairs she looked around at the group. They were all silent, paralyzed in fear.

Lisa suddenly looked to Remus.

"Remus… You've been avoiding me," she said.

"I broke up with you a week ago. I don't have to talk to you anymore," Remus said.

Lisa laughed. "Oh Remus, you amuse me."

"Well be un-amused," Lily said putting down her book. Everyone looked at her.

"What was that Evans?" Lisa asked.

"I said, don't find him funny… Leave him alone. He wants nothing to do with you anymore," Lily said.

"Do want to say that to my face Evans or are you gonna hide from me like you always do?" Lisa asked.

"Don't Lily… She's not worth it," Veronica whispered. But Lily rose to her feet, walked to Lisa, and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Leave him alone," Lily said.

"Fine then… I'll leave him alone," Lisa said. Lisa turned and began to walk the other way as did Lily. But Lisa wasn't done yet. From the stairs she pointed her wand and muttered a spell which hit Lily in the back and knocked her to the ground. "Stand up to me again Evans… I dare you."

Lisa ran upstairs. Remus and Dana who were closest went to Lily's side.

"Are you alright?" Dana asked.

Lily looked ill and pale and a second later a slug fell from her mouth.

"Oh gross," Peter said.

"Boy I'd like to give that Lisa a piece of my mind," Veronica said angrily. "No one does that to one of my best friend and lives."

"What do we do to get it to stop?" James asked as Lily upchucked another slug.

"Nothing… There's no counter for this," Remus said, frustrated.

"Perhaps she'd better go to the hospital wing," Sirius said as another slug fell from her mouth.

"You should take her Remus," Veronica said. Up came another slug. "You're prefect. You'll get in less trouble for being out of bed." And another slug.

Remus nodded as he and Dana brought Lily to her feet.

James opened the portrait hole and Lily and Remus left.

"I'll even say poor Evans. That spell sucks," Sirius said.

"Yeah, I know," Peter said. "Snivellus used it on me first year."

"Ah, I remember that. After he used that spell I hexed Snape for the first time… What a wonderful memory," James said.

"Yeah. Suddenly it makes me feel very sick. So goodnight," Peter said.

Peter walked upstairs to bed.

"Not going to kiss your boy friend goodnight?" Veronica asked.

"He is not my boy friend officially," Dana said.

"Sure and I'm just Veronica's snogging buddy," Sirius said.

The common room door opened. In walked Professor McGonagall and Remus.

"Hello Professor," James said.

"Hello, Potter," she said. She walked past him and went upstairs to the dorms.

"Ooh, Lisa's in trouble," Dana said.

"I hope you told her that Lisa was stalking you, Moony," James said.

"Course. You think me a fool, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"Course not," James replied.

Downstairs came McGonagall. She stood at the bottom of the stairs. The children in the room stared at each other silently.

"Why are you all still awake?" she asked.

"We are creatures of the night doomed to a house of morning people," James said.

"Oh yes… You did just get back from detention with Professor Slughorn. What is it that you did this time?" McGonagall asked.

"Nothing compared to what we usually do," Sirius said. McGonagall rolled her eyes. Lisa trumped down the stairs carrying her suitcase.

"I don't see why I've been expelled," Lisa said.

"Maybe we should review your student contract then," McGonagall said. Lisa sighed and walked out of the common room… Forever. McGonagall followed.

When the door was closed they all cheered.


	8. Graffitti

Sunday afternoon Lily walked back into the common room, looking ill and exhausted.

The young first year, Sam, rose from her seat with her friends and walked over to Lily.

"Hello, Dandelion, er, Lily," she said. Lily smiled at her.

'"Hello, Sam," Lily said.

"The girl who hexed you got expelled. Did you know?" she asked.

"Yes I did. McGonagall told me when I'd finally stopped throwing up slugs," Lily replied.

"You look tired," Sam said.

"I'll be fine. I still have to keep an eye on you," Lily said. Sam smiled and ran back to her friends. Lily walked upstairs where she was happy to be going to her dorm but when she went to open the door it did not budge. It wasn't locked, it was being blocked.

Lily decided to instead go visit with Remus instead.

She went to his door and knocked. The door opened and Lily walked in.

"Galapagos," Dana said.

"Uh... Darwin," Remus said.

"Yes," she replied.

"What are you all sitting around for?" Lily asked.

"Because Veronica and Sirius are in our room," Dana said annoyed.

"... So?" Lily asked.

"They're 'busy' right now and need their privacy," Dana said. Lily rolled her eyes. They were shagging in her room no doubt. The nerve of them.

"They had better not be on my bed," Lily said.

"Why would they be on your bed?" James asked.

"Lily has a notoriously comfortable bed. When she goes home for break I always steal her bed," Dana admitted.

"If Veronica doesn't," Lily said. "If she is in my bed with Black, I'll kill her."

"They've been in there over an hour. They should be out soon… I hope," Peter said.

"Teenagers only have but so much energy," Remus said.

The door opened and in walked Sirius. He closed the door behind him and looked up at everyone in his room.

"Hello," he said.

"Which bed were you shagging on?" Lily asked bluntly.

"How is that any of your business?" Sirius asked defensively.

"It's my room," I said. "Which bed?"

"The second one from the door," Sirius said.

Lily looked over at Dana who looked appalled.

"Excuse me. I have to go kick my roommate's ass," she said. She pushed past Sirius and went out the room. They all looked to Lily.

"I'm not going back in there until the room has been properly sanitized," Lily said.

Peter sighed. "I'll go stop her." He walked out of the room.

"And you'll be going as well I assume," Sirius said.

"Obviously," Lily said.

"To the library, no doubt," James said.

"I might not be. I do have a life you know," Lily said.

"Then where are you going?" Sirius asked.

Lily glared at him for a moment. "So what I am going to the library. I don't appreciate that you think I'm so predictable."

James scoffed. Lily looked over to Remus.

"Remus could you help me carry my books?" Lily asked. Remus groaned. Lily always asked him to help her carry her library books. "Oh come on. Please?"

"Why don't you just get fewer books for once?" Remus said.

"I'm assuming that was a joke," Lily said. Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you always help me in the library. Besides, it's Sunday. Snape is always in there on Sunday and if you don't help me I'll have to ask Gilderoy and he's frightened of Snape and he'll leave me."

"Help her with her books so she will go away. I have to take a shower and I'm sure she doesn't want to be here and I don't want her to be here," Sirius said.

Lily nodded. Remus climbed off his bed and pushed Lily from the room and closed the door behind him.

James looked over at Sirius, annoyed. "Will you stop doing that?"

"Doing what? Kicking Evans out? I can tolerate her presence for you guys sake but I don't really think she needs to be in here while I get ready for a shower, for all the _obvious_ reasons," Sirius said.

"I meant pushing her off on Moony. You're killing my chances. You know she likes him," James said.

"Well yeah but he doesn't like her like that. It doesn't really matter," Sirius pointed out.

"The longer she likes him, the less amount of time she will have to like me," James said. "I mean, I'm more likeable than Remus, aren't I?"

"… I don't know! I'm not a girl. I can't tell you what women find attractive about you," Sirius said.

"Then think like a girl for a second," James said. Sirius stared at him blankly for a moment.

"… You're weird," he finally said walking into the bathroom.

Dinner that evening was quiet. Lily was reading, Remus and Veronica were having a contest to see who could build the best mashed potato sculpture, with Sirius as the judge. Dana and Peter were watching them, absolutely captivated by their sudden act of ignorance. James on the other hand was eating quietly, ignoring his friends.

Lily noticed how quiet he was, though she regretted it. She was too nice for her own good. When something was wrong she always had to ask, to see if she could make it better… Even if it was Potter.

Lily went to speak but stopped herself. She didn't need to. It was _just_ Potter after all.

She looked up from her book at James, but quickly looked back at her book.

_Don't talk… Don't talk… Don't talk… Let it go._

"You're awful quiet," she said still looking at her book. Everyone looked up at her. Lily continued to read her book.

Veronica glanced around the table and then looked back at Lily.

"You… You're talking about Potter?" Veronica asked.

Lily glanced up from her book and at Veronica.

"He's been unusually quiet this evening. Usually he's full of witty things to say… Though it's a nice change. I'll get to read more books this way," Lily said casually, returning to her book.

"But you actually… Noticed, you cared for that matter," Dana said taken aback. James looked up from his plate and over at Lily.

"You're not going soft on me, are you, Evans?" Veronica asked.

"Course not. I'm just unusually observant this evening," Lily said turning the page.

"You're reading," Remus said.

"Which do you find more disturbing? The fact that I can read and know what you're doing or the fact that two of the smartest people I know are having a mashed potato sculpture building contest, because I think the answer is quite obvious," Lily said.

"She has a point," Dana said.

"So do I," Veronica said.

"Yes but that's only because you think it's weird that she pointed out how quiet James was in comparison to how you usually can't get him to shut up," Peter said.

"Can we please just let this go? This is the most pointless conversation we have ever had at dinner," Sirius said. "Besides, Dumbledore's giving us this look about the mashed potato sculptures."

They all glanced up at the staff table where Dumbledore was looking at the mashed potatoes curiously.

"Well why wouldn't he look?" Veronica asked taking her spoon and finishing her mold. "There. A fountain."

"What a waste," Dana said shaking her head.

Remus picked up the gravy boat from the table and poured it into Veronica's fountain. Veronica muttered a spell and the gravy flowed through the fountain. Many of the students at the table applauded her.

"Veronica wins," Sirius said.

The gravy on the fountain stopped flowing.

"That spell wore off fast," Lily said.

"I thought… That's spell isn't supposed to ware off though. It stops when you make it stop right?" James asked.

"That what I was led to believe," she said.

No one was sure how it happened but the seven of them were now covered in mashed potatoes and gravy.

"How did that happen?" Remus asked wiping the mashed potatoes off his face.

"I've got an idea," Sirius said. He motioned to the Slytherin table. After wiping mashed potatoes from his glasses he saw Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Bellatrix and Narcissa Black, and Rudouplhus Lestrange laughing their asses off.

"Those assholes," Peter said.

"I bet it was Snivellus who did that to your fountain," James said.

"Don't go assuming," Lily said.

James groaned. "Don't tell me you're defending those creeps."

"Regardless of if they did it or not, if you do something back you're getting on their level and I like to think their level is beneath us," Lily said. "I dislike them as much as you do but I refuse to play their childish games."

"That's our Lily. The voice of reason," Veronica said pulling mashed potato from hair.

"_Scourgify,"_ Remus said. They were all instantly clean.

"Why didn't we think of that sooner?" Dana asked.

"We were to busy glaring at the Slytherins," Veronica said.

"Hey..." Lily began. "Where did my book go?"

"You just had it," Dana said.

"I know," Lily said. They looked over and under the table but it was nowhere to be found.

"Evans," a voice called from across the hall. Lily turned and looked to Narcissa holding the book and laughing. Lily glared at her. Narcissa opened the book and held a marker.

"No," Lily said. Narcissa nodded and turned back around to the table and wrote something in the book. "Oh… A part of me just died… Soiling the perfectly good pages of an innocent with her graffiti."

Narcissa turned back around held the book out with a falsely innocent look upon her face. Lily pulled out her wand.

"_Accio book,"_ she said. The book flew from Narcissa's hands and into Lily's. She turned around.

"That cousin of mine," Sirius said rolling his eyes. Lily opened the book and flipped through pages looking for where Narcissa had written in it.

"Isn't she spending Christmas with you?" James asked.

"Her and Bellatrix," Sirius said.

"Well you should have barrels of fun," James said sarcastically.

Lily slammed the book closed and looked back at the Slytherins, tears in her eyes they smirked at her. Lily got up from her seat and walked out of the Great Hall, letting out a small sob. The group burst into laughter.

"What on earth was that about?" Peter asked opening the book and flipping through the pages. He paused. "Oh… This would explain a lot."

In the center of the book written in big black lettering was _Filthy, Worthless, Mudblood._


	9. The Challenge

Lily lay on the couch staring at the fire. She knew she shouldn't let the Slytherins get to her, after all, their actions were beneath her, but at the same time she couldn't help but be affected by it.

The common room door opened and in stepped Remus. He walked over to the couch where Lily was laying and extended hand, holding out her book.

"I took out the graffiti. I know Madame Pince would have a cow if she found it in there," he said. Lily looked up at him and took the book.

"Thanks," she said quietly and returned to staring at the fire.

"Now don't let them get to you," Remus said. "The Slytherins are in that house for a reason. That's where all the losers, bullies, and rejects go. Especially Narcissa and her friends."

Lily looked up at him.

"Regardless of what she said, even if you were a... You know, you're still smarter, you're better looking, and you have morals... My point being even if you were what she called you you're still an all around better person than she is," Remus said.

Lily chuckled. "Thank you, Remus. That made me feel a little better."

"What are friends for," Remus said. "Besides, even Sirius, who dislikes you with passion, doesn't even condone their behavior."

Lily nodded.

"I know he's a bit of an idiot but, I think that if you and Sirius sat your differences aside then maybe you could be friends," Remus said.

"That's the last thing I need to do, throw my lot in with that pumpkin head," I said.

"Well you already have, really," Remus said. This caused Lily sit up and give him a somewhat sarcastic look of disbelief.

"Enlighten me as to how you came to that conclusion," Lily said.

"Well look our circle of friends," Remus said.

Lily shook her head. "Just because our circle of friends is the same doesn't mean we should be friends." Remus shook his head.

"The Lily I've known since first year would at least try to be civil," Remus said.

"Oh please. This has nothing to do with being civil. I see Sirius everyday. I'm around him all of the time. We can be civil Peter but... Our wires get crossed too much for either of us to get along. Besides, I don't think of Sirius as being a very good person," Lily said.

"Now I can promise you Lily that Sirius _is_, on some levels a good person. I mean think about it in the context of dealing with his two lousy cousins, Narcissa and Bellatrix," Remus said.

Lily had to admit to herself that Remus was right. Anytime the Black girls gave Lily a hard time Sirius had been the one to step in and stand up for her. Whether it be because somewhere deep down he actually cared a small bit for her well being or whether it be because he felt himself the only one worthy of filling her life with woe, the fact that he stood up for her at all meant something and it was noble to say the very least.

"I see your point," Lily said. "But all the same our egos are too big to fit into one space. Neither of us is stupid, neither of us is unattractive... Everyone, well almost everyone, loves us-."

"Might want to deflate your head a little bit, Lils," Remus said as Lily marveled at her own magnificence. Lily was a bit of an egotist. Of course she had every right to be, but she liked to be notified when she was getting out of hand.

"We both think we're better than the other. We clash too much. I think Sirius is a pest worse than your friend James and Sirius thinks I'm-."

"A right foul wench," Remus said.

"Exactly... In truth, I suppose neither of those things is true but... We haven't matured much since first year. I'm still a proud teachers pet and he's still a proud... A proud... What would you call him?" Lily asked.

"A proud purveyor of aids to magical mischief makers," Remus said.

"Yes," Lily said. "I'm a rule following girl. He's not and I fear we cannot coexist together."

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Well you've been doing a grand job of going at it for five years... Why stop now?" he asked.

Lily sighed. "Remus it's-."

At that moment the common room door opened and in walked the rest of their respective friends.

"One day those Slytherins will get what's coming to them. Just you wait," Veronica said.

"You're right," James said. "We're Gryffindor. We're the proud, the brave, the good looking-."

"The conceited," Remus mumbled under his breath.

"We're practically the poster children for this school," Sirius said.

"Yeah, we've got Remus and Evans here. Who in the school is smarter than them?" James asked.

"Actually Snaps gets about the same grades as me," Lily pointed out. James frowned at her.

"We can't heckle them for being jerks if you keep pointing out the good in them, Evans," James said.

"I apologize for being mildly good natured," Lily said.

Sometimes James really couldn't stand how nice Lily was, he loved her to death but sometimes he wished she wouldn't be so passive.

"Forgive and forget," she said.

"You can't take that attitude for everything, Lily," Veronica said.

"They keep coming back and treating you like you're nothing but a bucket of warm flobberworm slime. How can you stand there and take that time after time?" Dana asked.

"Because I believe people can change," Lily said.

"Of course they can change but only if they take the initiative," Sirius said. "Evans, I'm gonna be straight with you, I don't like you, but I don't like the way my family treats people either, especially muggleborns."

"I know, Black," Lily said with a sigh.

"My family hasn't changed at all since we've been around. Occasionally you get an odd ball like me or Andromeda who actually decides to stop being prejudice but the rest won't. They'll keep going until you feel like you're nothing," Sirius said.

"That won't happen," Lily said.

Sirius sighed.

"I don't make it my job to keep the Slytherins from bothering you. I do it because I know they're being wrong and cruel and I may hate you but no one deserves to take that kind of treatment," Sirius said. "Yet and still every time you let it go. You let them walk all over you like what they're doing is okay."

"I know it's not okay," Lily said defensively. "I let things go because I don't like confrontations. You saw what happened when I told of Lisa. She cursed me."

"And she cursed her way out of Hogwarts forever," Veronica said.

"But do the ends justify the means?" Lily asked.

"Yes," everyone said

"It's not like we're telling you to go up to them and pick a fight but the next time they come around treating you that way, say something. Don't stand there and take it, do something. Say something. Don't sit there and being pathetic letting everyone else stand up for you and fight your battles," Sirius said.

"I am perfectly capable of fighting my own battles," Lily said defiantly.

"Then prove it one of these days because I'm tired of doing it for you!" Sirius said. "I don't even like you!"

"Then as of the moment don't do it anymore," Lily said.

"I won't," Sirius said.

"Please, you can't help but tell your family off," Lily scoffed.

"Is that a fact?" Sirius asked.

"I should say so. I bet you wouldn't be able to restrain yourself from helping me if Narcissa and Bellatrix went to town on me again," Lily said.

"Well we'll just see about that," Sirius said.

Remus fought back his smile as he thought about the situation. Lily and Sirius could be coaxed into doing most anything if they challenged each other properly.

The gauntlet was thrown down now. Sirius to not protect Lily and for her to stand up for herself. Each of them was certainly capable of achieving both of their goals, but prior experience showed the odds to not be in favor for either of them. Lily was to sweet natured to ever actually tell someone off like she meant it (aside from Sirius of course) and Sirius couldn't help but go off on his cousins about being so terrible to other people simply because they were different.

Lily and Sirius glared hard at each other. When their eyes left each others the game had begun.


	10. Friends and Enemies

Over the next few days Sirius and Lily were hard at work trying to prove to each other that they could do what they set out to do.

Of course both of them were doing their absolute best to keep from talking to Narcissa and Bellatrix which was avoiding the problem all together.

Of course this couldn't last for long, not as long as the two girls wanted to bother Lily.

"You don't think I'm a doormat do you?" Lily asked as she and Remus walked the corridors for that evenings prefect duty.

"Course not," Remus replied, being the good friend that he was.

"And you don't think there's anything wrong with being a pacifist do you?" Lily asked.

"No," Remus replied. It had gone on like this for the past few days. He had been constantly reassuring Lily that she was not a doormat and that their friends simply weren't as kind as she was.

"So why is Black getting all anal over the fact that those losers in Slytherin keep bothering me?" Lily's questions continued onward.

"Because, he doesn't like the way his family treats other people and he feels likes you're just letting them do it," Remus answered. This was of course what Sirius had said himself. Remus believed that Sirius actually cared a smidgen about Lily's well being and, though he would never admit it, he thought of her as a friend.

"I don't let them do it," Lily complained as she always did. "I just don't think that fighting fire with fire is always the appropriate course of action that needs to be taken, especially in this situation."

"Well I don't know what to tell you," Remus said finally.

"Tell me I'm being stupid about all this and shouldn't deviated from my normal pattern of behavior," Lily told him. "What do you think about all this?"

"Uh... Well, I think that Sirius wouldn't feel as inclined to make you defend yourself _if_ you were friends because then he'd have like an obligation to actually stand up for you and vice-versa," Remus admitted.

"I've already told you, Remus. Sirius and I-."

"Just can't get along. I know. I get it," Remus said. "But for you to be the compassionate, kind and _forgiving_ one, I don't see why you won't give him a chance."

"It's not that I _won't_ give him a chance it's that I _can't_ give him a chance. We've been through to much crap with each other to actually find something to get along about. We think we're better than each other and-."

"Excuses, excuses," Remus said as he rolled his eyes.

"Is this the deepest, most desperate desire of your heart?" Lily asked.

Remus could've answered that question any number of ways, one of them would involve admitting his feelings for her, but instead he decided to humor her.

"I want nothing more than to have all my friends to be friends," Remus said.

Lily thought about this for a moment. She then realized his circle of friend consisted of Lily, Veronica, Dana and "The Marauders" and they were constantly clashing with each other and that aside from him, the only friend any of them had in common was Peter. In fact, Peter had once also brought up this fact.

"Well... If it's really what you _want_," Lily began, "I suppose I could try to get along with Black, but I'm not sure he'll be too thrilled about the whole idea of it."

"Who knows?" Remus began. "He may surprise you."

The next day James was ill so Lily looked forward to the day's potion lesson where she wouldn't have to worry about being covered in something foul.

"Now this is a rather complex potion so I'll need you all to work in pairs today," Slughorn said. Lily's spirits lifted. Her partner was gone so she should've been able to work this out on her own.

As everyone set out to work Slughorn walked over to her.

"Evans," he said.

"Yes, sir?" she asked.

"I can see that your partner isn't here today? Is Potter alright?" he asked.

"He's just ill," she assured him.

"Well I don't want you working this out by yourself so could you work with Sirius for me?" he asked. Lily sighed.

"Of course." She gathered her things and moved back to Sirius's table.

"Hi," he said as he read the instructions in his book. "I distinctly remember that the last time you were near a potion I made, you ended up getting me a failing grade for that term."

"I'm sorry. I was a spiteful little thing when I was 11," she replied sincerely. "And you don't have to worry about it today. It's one potion. You fail, I fail."

"I guess," Sirius said as he continued to read the instructions.

Lily sighed as she remembered her conversation with Remus the previous night. 

"Sirius, I've been awful to you. I really have and I wanted to apologize for... Acting like a bitch," she came out and said.

Just as Sirius was getting started he paused and looked over at Lily suspiciously.

"Come again?" he asked.

"I'm apologizing for treating you so bad all these years," she repeated.

"Oh... Uh... Why?" he asked confused.

Lily motioned to Remus and Peter. "They're our best friend... We're theirs... You think they like that their best friend argue? Besides, we're 15 years old. We should've grown up past this whole 'I hate you' phase. Why do we even hate each other, aside from the fact that I'm a bit of a bitch to you?"

Sirius shrugged.

"I don't know," he said with a chuckle. "Honestly, I never disliked you nearly as much as I said I did."

"Me too," Lily said.

They both went to work on the potion in silence for a few moments.

"So... Truce?" Lily asked extending her hand. Sirius shook head but shook Lily's hand.

"Friends," he said. Lily couldn't help but smile. "And as far as Narcissa and Bellatrix go, don't worry about them-."

"No... I think you're right. I should try to stand up for myself... There has to be some non-confrontational way for me to get them to bugger off," she said.

"Alright," Sirius said, choosing not to question Lily Evans who was known for incurring a mighty wrath onto anyone, ever friends who decided to go against what she wanted to do.

Just then a piece of paper hit Lily in the back of the head. She turned to see Narcissa snickering with her boy friend, Lucius.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned away from them.

Narcissa threw another piece of paper. Lily turned around.

"I'm sorry do you need something?" Lily asked.

"Oh, no. Of course no," Narcissa said with a smile.

Lily turned back around. Another piece of paper hit her head. She was heated.

"I know I said they weren't worth it... But I will not stand for this," Lily said. She shuffled around in her bag and pulled out a vial of clear liquid.

"What's that?" Sirius asked.

"Well, remember when I switch out your toad saliva for my spit in first year? I thought I may have to do it again so I had a back up," Lily said.

"That's weird," Sirius admitted.

"I was a very disturbed child, looking back." Narcissa hit her in the head with another piece of paper. "Fortunately I never had to use it on you again."

"What are you up to?" Sirius asked.

"What you said... Standing up for myself," Lily said.

Sirius watched as she unnoticeably muttered a spell. It hit Narcissa and Lucius table, shaking it, causing their small vials of potions to fall to the ground. Then very quickly Lily switched out the toad saliva with her own and back to work on her potion.

Narcissa and Lucius had finally picked up all their ingredients and went back to work as well, and had clearly given up on Lily as she was no longer reacting to the paper balls that were hitting her head.

"So... What's gonna happen when they use your spit instead of a toads?" Sirius whispered.

"Well it's quit simple. Toad saliva is used to lower how acidic something is... And without toad saliva this potion Ph level is like... 1," Lily explained.

"... You're insane," Sirius said.

"But only in that mad scientist way," Lily said with a smile.

Soon class had drawn to a close and everyone began putting their potions into little vials. As Lily tagged hers and sat it on Slughorn's desk she watched and Narcissa and Lucius began to ladle theirs out.

But when they went to pull the ladle out of the potion to cup was gone.

"What happened?" Lucius asked.

"I dunno... It's gone," Narcissa said. She looked at the handle. "It's been melted off or something..."

Just then there was a lot of steam coming from under their cauldron. Soon there was a loud crash as the stand on which the cauldron sat had dissolved away. The potion began to spill out from under it. Then it began to leak through the table, at first slowly, then faster and faster until the potion was falling like rain.

Lily and Sirius climbed on top of their table because the potion was eating away at their stools.

"Malfoy! Black! What did you do?" Veronica asked.

"Someone forgot to put toad saliva in their potion. If haven't said it once I've told you a thousand times, do not skip steps," Slughorn said.

"But we added! I swear we did," Narcissa said as she and Lucius hopped back onto Rudolphus and Bellatrix's table.

"Clearly you didn't. You fail this potion the both of you," he said. He pointed his wand at the mess. _"Evanesco." _The mess vanished. "Be more wary of your actions."

After potions class Lily and Sirius found it hard not to get along after what had happened to Narcissa and Lucius.

When classes were over for the day Sirius raced up to his dorm, James homework in hand.

James was lying in bed reading a Quidditch magazine drinking orange juice. His complexion was a little pale and his rubbish bin had been taken over by the tissue monster.

"Hello, friend," Sirius said.

"Hey," James replied. "How was your day?"

"It was great actually," Sirius said.

"Remus was up here earlier told me something about Narcissa and Lucius melting their cauldron. What was up with that?" James asked sniffling.

"It was brilliant. Slughorn sat Evans with me because you weren't there and Lisa's been expelled and had to make our potion together," Sirius explained.

"That must've been terrible for you," James said.

"No actually... We're kind of friends," Sirius said.

"Well now! This is an unprecedented turn of events. I commend you for seeing past your differences," James said applauding.

"Whatever. Anyway, Narcissa and Lucius were behind throwing balls at Evans head and then Lily switched out there toad saliva with her own saliva. The Ph level in their potion was terrible! The whole thing melted the cauldron, their table, their chairs, our chairs, they failed the day and it was by far the best potions class ever," Sirius explained.

"Well, sorry I missed it," James said blowing his nose.

"And how's your day been?" Sirius asked.

"Rather uneventful, though when I was in the hospital wing Professor Dumbledore applauded me on how distance I could get shooting tissues into the garbage can," James said. He took his glasses off and sank down under the cover. "I'm going to go back to sleep now... Try and nick me some soup from the great hall would ya?"

"You go it," Sirius said.


	11. Operation Lollipop Guild

It was Halloween morning. Sirius and Remus were in a frenzy, excitedly deciding on what they would do for their annual Halloween prank. Peter was their official transcriber of idea and Remus was there to tell them exactly how ridiculous the idea was.

"How about we blow the Slytherin's portrait right off the hinges?" James suggested.

"And have every portrait in the castle rat us out? I don't think so," Remus said.

Peter quickly scratched it off the list.

"We could team up with Peeves and-."

"Peeves is not going to help anyone in this school even if it is to cause utter humiliation to everyone," Remus said.

"You're a spoil sport," Sirius said.

"Excuse me for me for having common sense," he replied casually as he ate his breakfast.

"Hello, boys," Dana said as she and the girls sat down to breakfast. Things had been a lot more pleasant since Lily and Sirius had settled their differences. There's been far less arguing. Quite recently the only disturbances had been Lily telling James off for hitting on her. And of course Remus telling of Sirius for his ignorance.

"What are you up to today?" Veronica asked kissing Sirius's cheek.

"The prank of the year," Sirius said.

Peter held up their sheet of paper with several cross offs and scratch outs on it.

"Great progress you've made," Lily said. "Do you really need to do this. Every year you always land in detention."

"I land in detention anyway," Sirius said.

"But shouldn't you avoid it? I mean just because you're always in detention doesn't mean you should try to get put in detention. Quite frankly you're just adding to your list of infractions, not to mention it's making your record rather predictable. The way I see it what you're doing is completely illogical and-."

"You know ever since I started talking to you I feel like there are two Remus's all the time telling me how stupid things are," Sirius said.

"And yet the idiocy continues," Remus commented.

"Like that," Sirius said. "But commenting on our predictability we counted this which is why we're going to strike tomorrow."

"What?" Dana asked.

"Think about it. We _always_ prank on Halloween. They're expecting it. Their ever watchful eye on has been keeping an eye on us more frequently," Sirius said.

"... But if it's ever watchful isn't it always watching you?" Lily asked.

Sirius sighed. "Not in the middle of my speech, Lily."

"My apologies or great one," Lily replied rolling her eyes.

"As I was saying, they're expecting our annual Halloween prank, but if we pull the prank tomorrow on All Saints Day they'll never see it coming," Sirius said.

"Not my idea," Remus pointed out.

"Nothing ever is. You just tell us if ours are fool proof," James said. "And that's why we love you."

"Yeah," Remus cheered unenthusiastically.

"What's got you in such a foul mood today, Remus?" Peter asked.

"Oh, he's just on his period," James said. Not looking up from his breakfast Remus flipped him the birdie. "Whoa, Remus, chill out man. I'm only joking."

"Really you've been in a right state ever sine you saw McGonagall about your essay this morning," Peter said.

"Did something happen?" Veronica asked.

Remus sighed. "I got a C."

The group gasped.

"I got a C too!" Sirius said.

Veronica hit him upside the head. "You can be quite insensitive sometimes, Sirius."

"Well why?" Lily asked.

"Maybe I haven't been studying enough these days," he said.

"I doubt it. You study more than ever these days. I hardly ever see you without a book," James said.

"And even if you were studying less it shouldn't make your grade drop so drastically," Lily said.

"It's not like my Remus to get a C," Veronica said.

"_My_ Remus?" Sirius asked.

"You should know, Sirius. Remus and I are secret lovers," Veronica said.

"Yeah. She can't keep her hands off me," Remus joked.

"Cool. We should have a threesome sometime," Sirius said.

"... No..." Remus said, slightly disgusted.

"... The images I just had in my mind are so... Disturbing that... I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep tonight," Dana said.

"Likewise," James and Lily replied in unison.

"But as far as good news goes Remus is cheering up," Veronica said.

A small smile had crept across Remus's face.

"There's the Remus we all know and love," Lily said with a smile of her own.

James rolled his eyes as Remus smiled back.

Remus was rather happy with Halloween this year. The Marauders had not managed to get him into any trouble this year and because of it he was feeling pretty good. McGonagall had even commended on his good behavior this year and because of it offered to let him redo his essay.

He was feeling pretty good about himself... But of course he _is_ a marauder and so were his friends.

"... Remus... Remus Lupin... Oi! Remus!" Sirius shouted. Remus sat up in his bed and pulled back his curtains on his bed. He glanced at his watch.

"Have you any concept of time? It's three in the morning," he yawned.

"Yes but it's All Saints Day. Time for us to pull this huge prank," James said.

"But everyone's asleep," Remus yawned again.

"But they'll see it in the morning," Peter said.

"If that's the case we can do it in the morning. In the meantime I'd like to sleep," Remus said.

Sirius grabbed Remus and pulled him out of bed.

"Good to see you up old chum," he said. Pulling Remus, Sirius walked out of their dorm and down into the empty common room. Peter followed with James who had the invisibility cloak tucked tightly under his arm.

"Shall we be off then?" James asked.

"Of where? To do what?" Remus asked.

"Remus, you're going to need to calm down," Peter said. "Seriously. Usually I panic. You're supposed to be the rational one."

"There's nothing rational about waking me up at three in the morning, dragging me God-knows-where in my underpants," Remus said.

"Did you know more girls would like you if you went shirtless more often?" Sirius asked. Remus sighed.

"If anyone catches us up they're going to think I'm a cutter or something," Remus said.

"Well some girls are into that kinky stuff," Sirius said.

James threw the invisibility cloak over himself and his friends and they ventured out of the common room. James led them down many flights of stairs until they reached the entrance hall.

"Why are we here?" Remus asked.

Peter pulled the cloak off himself.

_"Accio paint_," he said. Out of nowhere two buckets of tickle-me-pink paint zoomed over into his hands. "Got it."

"Operation _Lollipop Guild_ is a go-go," he said.

James opened one of the doors to the school. A giant breeze of freezing air shot inside.

"Whew! It's hella cold out here," James said walking out.

"We're going out?" Remus asked.

"Duh. Remus, you're a bit slow today," Sirius said.

He pulled Remus outside and closed the door to the school.

"Now what?" Remus asked.

"Grab a brush and start painting the front door," James said.

"... We're painting... The front doors... Of Hogwarts... Pink?" Remus asked.

"Tickle-me-pink," Peter corrected, handing him a brush.

Having no choice in the matter it seemed, he grabbed a brush and got to work.

But as they begun one of the doors opened. They panicked and had no time to hide, but much to their relief it was they saw Veronica.

"Hey, boys are we late?" she asked.

"Late? You're helping?" Remus asked.

"Yeah. I gotta support my man," Veronica said. Dana followed her out. Then came Lily. Just as, if not more, irritated and tired as Remus.

"You dragged me out of bed at three in the morning to play with _The Marauders?_ I think I might strangle you," she said. She pulled her cloak tightly around her.

"Don't be so shy, Lily. It's just the boys," Veronica said.

"Shy? I barely let you see me like this," she retorted.

"You... You're not naked under there are you?" James asked hopefully.

"No you perv," Lily snapped at him.

"She's just in her knickers," Dana said. "And... Apparently so is Remus." Dana smiled at him.

"Remus, I didn't know you had such a great body. You ought to take that cloak off once in a while," Veronica said.

"Oi! I'm standing right here," Sirius said.

"Yeah but, Remus is really nice to look at now that I see him," Veronica said.

"But... What's with all the scars?" Dana asked.

"Just leave him alone," Lily said.

"No... You're... You're not a cutter are you Remus?" Veronica asked tracing one of the scars on his arms.

"Of course not," Remus replied.

"Then what's up?" Dana asked. "You can tell us, you know."

"We're best friends after all. I mean I could never joke with anyone else about being their secret lover," Veronica said.

Remus seemed to pause contemplating whether or not to tell them. His glance shifted to Lily. She smiled at him encouragingly as she pulled her robe around her tighter.

"You would never believe me," Remus said.

"Oh come on now. You wouldn't lie to us," Dana said.

"... You've got to promise not to freak out on me either," Remus added. "And you can never, never, never, never, _ever_, anyone."

"Promise or may Peeves haunt me for eternity," Dana and Veronica said in unison.

"Fine... I'm a werewolf," Remus said.

"What?" Veronica asked in disbelief.

"Haven't you ever wondered why I disappeared once a month every evening and why I'm always sick for a week once a month-."

"Yeah. It's like he has a period every full moon," James said.

"Shut up," Remus replied.

"... So... So you're a werewolf?" Veronica asked. Remus nodded. Dana and Veronica were in a stunned silence. They looked to Lily.

"Is he?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"You're like a werewolf for real?" Dana asked.

"Yeah and every full moon I sneak under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack, transform into a werewolf and I sneak back every morning," Remus said.

"... Which would explain why Lily had all your clothes a week ago because I bet you shred your clothes," Veronica said.

"Hmm... Suddenly a lot of things about you make sense," Dana said.

"Well could you just stop looking at my scars it really bothers me," Remus said.

"Sorry I jus can't help it. I mean, I've never seen scars that are that pronounced. I feel like a prat for gawking at you like that," Dana said.

"Here," Lily said taking off her robe. James whistled. "I'll kill you." She handed her robe to Remus.

"There now my eyes won't wander," Dana said.

"Mine will," James mumbled.

Lily was indeed only wearing her knickers under the cloak. She was only thankful that her top had been an actual top instead of just a bra. It was lacey and pink and something no one would've ever expected out of Lily.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us. It's like you didn't trust us," Veronica said snapping the boys' attention away from Lily's half naked body.

"Well it's got nothing to do with me. Most people don't trust werewolves," Remus said.

"Well Sirius darling, do tell me if there's a moon in the sky?" Veronica asked.

"No, I don't believe there is," Sirius replied. "There's nothing but gray clouds in the sky."

"... Those are... Rain clouds?" Lily looked over to Veronica and glared. There was a crack of thunder. "I hate you."

There was a flash of lightening, a crack of thunder and the rain started to pour. The rain was freezing and it hit them like a thousand tiny needles.

"Let's get back inside," James suggested. He went to open the doors but they didn't budge. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? I don't want to hear 'uh-oh' Potter. I want to hear the doors open," Lily demanded.

"Well... It's kinda... locked," he replied.


	12. Snape's Photography

"Locked? We're locked out?" Lily shouted. "It's cold, the wind-chill is like twenty, did I mention the freezing rain?"

"I can't do anything, I mean _alohamora_ won't work on this," James said. Lily grabbed the front of his robe and slammed him against the door. For a moment James was distracted by the fact the fact that scantily clad Lily was standing so close to him. It would be so easy to just touch her... Like... Anywhere.

"James Potter get this door open now," she demanded.

"Okay. I'll try," he said snapping back.

"No! You don't try... You do," Lily hissed. James suddenly felt very, very small as she glared at him.

Lily let James go as he turned to try to open the door.

"It's no good Evans. We're stuck," James said. Lily groaned as she shivered in the cold.

"Well this is absolutely splendid," she said.

"What do we do?" Veronica asked as she stood with Sirius in his cloak.

"We have to call for help obviously. We'll get hypothermia otherwise," Lily said. She pulled out her wand.

"Evans... Where'd you get that?" James asked.

"... That's not important," she replied, blushing furiously. She pointed her wand in the air. _"Relashio!"_ A burst of red sparks appeared from the end of her wand and then went out before they would be visible by anyone. "Oh... Well I certainly didn't think that all the way through."

"Well then... Now how do we let them know we're out here, Prongs?" Peter asked.

A light seemed to go off in James head. "That's it, Wormy. You're a genius!"

"... I am?" he asked reluctantly.

"Well... You inspire genius," James said. He pulled out his own wand. "Watch and be impressed, Evans."

Lily rolled her eyes, though after seeing him as an animagus she learned not to underestimate him.

_"Expecto patronum!"_ he shouted. A bright white light appeared out the end of his wand and took the form of a stag.

"Be still my beating heart... It's a corporeal patronus," Lily said, half out of breath.

"Yeah," James said. The stag ran around for a moment before it disappeared.

"I was, as you said James, very impressed," Lily admitted.

"They should be here soon," James hoped. "In the meantime, Evans, if I told you that you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?"

Remus hung his head in pity at his friend's desperation. Lily walked over and slapped him.

"Never," she said. She walked over to Remus. She took the cloak, opened it and wrapped her arms around him. "You're warm."

Remus had gone stiff from the sudden shock of having half naked Lily Evans pressed directly against him.

"You've got to be the luckiest man in the world Remus," James said. He glanced over to Veronica and Sirius who were buttoned up under the cloak, neither of them paying attention to anyone else but each other and laughing back and forth. "Then again I don't even want to know what they're_ doing_ under the cloak."

"Likewise," Dana said.

"Well, well, well, this all looks rather incriminating," a voice said.

They looked up to see that the door had opened and there stood Snivellus, er, Severus Snape.

"What are you doing here?" Peter asked.

"Just... Admiring the scenery," he said pulling out a camera. He aimed it at Lily and Remus.

Lily gasped. "Snap one picture and things will be quite hellish in Spinner's End this summer."

"How is that possible? I'm sure Missus Evans wouldn't be impressed at all if one of her favorite neighborhood kids tells her what you've been up to since we've been at school," Snape said. He held the camera up and took a picture.

"... Fuck you and the broom you flew in on, really hard up your ass," Lily said.

Snape leered and walked back inside, closing the door back.

"Can I just point out that we could've gotten back in with Snivvy?" Peter asked.

"I was to cold and angry to think," Lily said pulling Remus closer, trying desperately to stay warm. "Oh man! If he shows my mum that picture I'll be in so much trouble!"

"I'd say it's a bit late for that," a voice said. The group looked to the door again where there stood Professor Dumbledore, holding Severus by the back of his robes. "I'd say we'd better meet in my office shall we?"

Remus immediately whipped off the cloak and tossed it around Lily.

Begrudgingly the group up to Dumbledore's office.

The group walked into the common room four o'clock the next morning, none more ashamed than Lily and Remus who hadn't wanted to be there in the first place.

"It's good of you to get us out of trouble, Sirius," Lily said.

Sirius had explained to Dumbledore that he and Veronica had pulled Remus and Lily out of bed against their will and brought them outside. This of course was a believable statement due to their appearance.

"No problem. It really was our fault anyway," Sirius said.

"Yeah, while the rest of us have to suffer a week of detention," Dana said.

"With Snivellus," Peter added.

The next morning Lily was walking down the hall to the library to take out a few books before class.

"Evans! Good to see you with your clothes back on," a voice hissed.

"I don't have time for you today, Narcissa," Lily said as she entered the library. Narcissa followed.

"Severus showed us your picture and I have to say pink looks good on you," Narcissa said. Lily groaned.

"Heckle me another time," she replied pulling a book off the shelf. "It would suck if that picture got into... Circulation wouldn't it."

"... What are you going on about?" she asked.

"The picture. You know, Lucius is really good with that replication spell of his," Narcissa said.

Lily dropped the book in her hand and spun around to Narcissa. "You didn't?"

"Oh I did, so you see, there'll be no need to heckle you. The rest of Hogwarts will do it on its own," Narcissa said. "Have a good my favorite little mudblood."

Lily stood there; frozen thinking of what exactly the day would bring after her friends saw the picture.

There was only one thing she could do.

She dashed down to the Great Hall she entered and already people were in a buzz. She took her usual seat with her friends.

"Narcissa told me-."

"She had her boy friend do a little replication spell on that picture Snivellus took. Yeah, I heard," James said.

"Peter, Veronica and Sirius have taken it upon themselves to get the picture away from as many people as possible," Dana said.

"Lily!" a voice said.

There appeared Alice, her fellow Gryffindor.

"Hi," Lily said.

"I saw that picture of you and Remus. What exactly happened last night?" she asked.

"Nothing! Nothing happened! We got dragged outside by the lovable idiots we call our friends at three o'clock this morning in our pajamas or what we slept in as pajamas, got locked out the school and it rained and I was cold hence what happened," Lily explained.

"Really? That seems unlikely," Alice said unsurely.

"Alice, have you ever known me to walk around dressed like _that_?" I asked.

"No... Not to mention the fact that I doubt you'd ever grab half naked Remus dressed like that either unless it was to prevent hypothermia," Alice said. She shrugged. "I suppose I'll believe you, Lily. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

Alice rose from the table. "See you in class." She started off and paused when she saw Remus. "By the way, Remus, it wouldn't hurt to, you know, hang out in the common room without a shirt on once in a while." Blushing madly, Alice walked away.

"She totally wants you," James said.

"No. She wants Frank, her boy friend," Remus replied.

"Don't hide it, Remus. All the ladies love you," Dana said. Remus rolled his eyes.

"I come bearing gifts," Sirius voice rang out. They turned to see Sirius, Veronica and Peter carrying large sacks filled with what they could only assume were Snape's pictures. "I think we got nearly all of them."

"Clearly," Remus said looking at the large bags. Lily curiously pulled one out of the sack.

"I hate to admit it but I look downright sexy in this picture," Lily said.

"So does Remus," a passing girl said. Veronica stopped her.

"Hand it over," she demanded. With a sigh the girl pulled the photo from her bag and handed it to Veronica. "Get out of here."

After smiling at Remus she walked away.

"I'm getting massive amounts of unwanted attention from this," Remus said.

"Nearly every girl in the school undressing you with her eyes right now," Lily said.

"Or at least what wasn't covered in that picture," Veronica said.

"Hi, Remus," a group of passing girls said as they giggled.

"I hate Severus Snape," Remus said.

"Indeed," Lily replied.

"No... I actually like him a little better," James said picking up one of the pictures. Lily snatched it away.

"If I see you with one of these I'll cause you so much hurt," Lily said.

"Not even to sit on my bed side?" James asked.

"Especially to just sit on your bedside," she said. It was all to disturbing a thought of what James Potter would do with a half naked picture of her.


	13. Invitation

The owls swooped into the Great Hall dropping letter's into everyone's lap. Much to her surprise, Lily received one as well. Curiously she opened it.

_Dear Lily__Hope you'__re doing well in school, as we expect you always are. Despite that it is the beginning of November we wanted to give you a little information regarding Christmas. Your father and I have decided to take a holiday in France this year. I hope you aren__t to upset but you__ll have to stay at school this year for Christmas. Petunia is going to visit with a friend for the holidays.__We love you and miss you.__Mom_

"Oh come on," Lily said. "This is absolutely not cool to the highest extreme."

"What's wrong?" Veronica asked.

"My parents are going to France for Christmas this year and they say I have to stay at school this year," Lily explained.

"Gee, Lils, I'm sorry," Dana said sympathetically.

"You know my mum is taking my brother Germany for Christmas this year," Sirius explained.

"Why not you?" Lily asked.

"Because she hates me, but as I was saying, they're not going to be home. Narcissa and Bellatrix will be coming over but you could stay over my house for Christmas if you like," Sirius offered.

"Oh, Sirius, would you really let me?" Lily asked.

"Sure. We're friends now. Friends help friends," Sirius said.

"Oh thank you, Sirius," Lily exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "I'm going to go tell my parents right."

Lily jumped up from the table and dashed out.

James turned to Sirius.

"Dude you've got to let me stay over your house for the holidays," he pleaded.

"Why?" Sirius asked.

"Because you're going to have Evans at your house," James said.

"And I don't matter anymore. I'm terribly hurt by this. You want to come over _m__y_ house to visit with someone else," Sirius said.

"Come on, I'm your best friend," James said.

"And so is he, and so is he, and that's my girl friend. What sets you apart from them?" Sirius asked.

"I love Evans," James said.

"You and the vast majority of Gryffindor boys," Sirius said.

"Except you pursue her with stalker like qualities," Dana said.

"Will the peanut gallery please be silenced, thank you very much?" James requested. Dana rolled her eyes.

"Look, if I let you come over, just because, I'll have to let Remus come over and Veronica, and Peter and they'll of course want Dana as well," Sirius said.

"You know… It's not such a bad idea," James said.

"Yes it is! It's a bad idea letting Evans come over in the first place," Sirius said. "Do you know what my mother will do when she finds out I let a muggle born stay over our house?"

"It doesn't matter. You hate your mother," James said.

"The fact of the matter is I already have to put up with the terrible twosome. I'm letting Lily come over and there's the likely possibility that my mother will lock me in the cellar for all eternity for it. If I let you and our merry band troublemakers come over she won't even allow me to live there anymore," Sirius said. He paused for a moment. "Then again…"

"James, let's be reasonable here," Veronica said. "Lily doesn't even like you and after last night there's a very unlikely chance that she will ever like you. Spending Christmas with her will hardly change that."

"But Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. It's… Magical," James said.

Sirius sighed. "If I let you come over… You're going to have to promise me that you _won__t_ behave rudely towards her."

"Rudely?" James asked.

"He means don't hit on her, Prongs," Remus said.

"So she can have a happy Christmas," Sirius said. "It's bad enough her parents have ditched her and she'll be stuck with Satan's favorite daughters. Last thing she needs is you confessing your undying love for her every five minutes."

"I don't like you being friends with Lily. I don't get to do anything anymore," James grimaced.

"I apologize for the inconvenience," Sirius said as he rolled his eyes. "As for the rest of you… You can come over but you can't harass Lily, however harassing my cousins is completely acceptable."

"You sure you've got room for all of us?" Dana asked.

"Yeah, and if not, Veronica can always share with me." Sirius winked at her.

"He's got plenty of room. He just can't have anyone else over," Remus said.

"And to make sure we haven't destroyed the house my aunt, Andromeda is coming over on Christmas with her husband and daughter," Sirius said.

"But I thought she-."

"Yeah but my mom got desperate. You see, no one like me much and she's the only one in my family who can put up with me," Sirius said. "But all the same, little Nymphadora will love you Veronica. She's so adorable. Bit clumsy."

"A bit? She ended up in the hospital when she turned four for falling off the balcony this past summer. She was in St. Mungo's for weeks recovering. She almost died," James pointed out.

"So she's very accident prone on a level you can't fathom until you've seen it," Sirius said. "But she's great. She's a metamorphagus."

"Really? They're super rare. I'd love to have that gift I would," Dana exclaimed.

"She was just getting to be able to control it last I saw her," Remus said.

"How exciting. Is she a sweet girl?" Veronica asked.

"Very much so. She's a little candy smuggler as well," Peter said.

"Well I can't wait now," Dana said. "I promise, Sirius, I will not in anyway shape or form behave crudely towards you anymore."

"To right you will," Sirius replied.

"You sure your folks will be okay with the crowd of people over your house?" James asked.

"No but sense when have I ever cared?" Sirius replied.

Lily bounced back into the Great Hall and sat down.

"Damn. I picked the wrong time to wrote that letter," she said.

"Why?" Remus asked.

Lily handed a letter to James, Remus, Sirius and still had one for herself.

"Guess who wants dinner on Friday night?" she asked.

"Dinner with the Slug Club?" Remus groaned. "I don't feel like being a suck up tomorrow."

"Well I do. I need the grade," Sirius said.

"I can't go. I got Quidditch practice," James said. "Busy, busy, busy. We have a game next week."

"Come on Moony. Evans and I will keep you company," Sirius said.

Remus sighed. He really didn't want to go.


	14. Selfish James Selfless Remus

The next few weeks passed by quicker than anyone had expected and soon it was December and snowing outside.

Sirius' plans to have his friends over Christmas had gone over well with everyone's parents, and his cousin. His own mother was quite uneasy about it but with no mention of "muggle borns" or "half bloods" hanging out at his house she assumed it was okay. His plan will have gone off without a hitch.

It would've anyway…

It was a blizzard outside, cancelling Care of Magical Creatures, herbology and astronomy for the day. Barely anyone got mail that moring, but Sirius was one of the "lucky" few who did.

"Who's it from?" Veronica asked.

"My mom," he said, taken aback. He opened the letter and read it over, his eyes getting wider and wider with each sentence he read until a horrified look appeared on his face. Whatever his mother had written it was so horrible it had stopped his breathing.

"Padfoot, breathe!" Peter said.

"NO!" he screamed. "No!"

"What?" Dana asked.

"NO!" he threw the letter to the ground, still screaming. "NO!" He pulled out his wand and pointed at the letter. "Lacarnum inflamare! NOOOOOOO!"

The letter was hit by a jet of continuous fire and was left as nothing more than a blazing pile of nothing on the floor.

"NO!" he continued.

Veronica stepped up and slapped him clear across the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked.

He took Veronica's hands down slowly.

"No," he said calmly and walked away. "No, no… No, no… No."

"I know he's weird but thisis unsual even for him," Remus pointed out.

"Indeed," James said.

Sirius walked over to the Slytherin table and stood above Lucioius and Snape.

"Whose idea was it?" Sirius asked.

The two excahnged glances.

"What?" Lucius asked just confused as Sirius's friends.

"Whose idea was it for you two dillholes to come over my house from Christmas?" Sirius asked.

Snape practically choked on his cereal and then looked up at Sirius, absolutely appaled.

"What the deuce?" he asked. "That's a lie!"

"Uh, no fucktard, it's not. It's true. My mom told me!" Sirius said.

"Prove it," Lucius said.

"Uh… Well… I set the letter on fire in a fit of rage and… Well I also kind of stomped out the ashes and scattered them across the Great Hall making it impossible to ever fix it… But it's true! Why would I make that up?" Sirius asked.

"Cause becausee you are a sick, sick, person," Snape said.

"Wrong answer Snivellus. I wouldn't," Sirius said.

"I think I'm going to kill myself," Snape said.

"Please, do the world, and me that favor," Sirius said.

Sirius walked back over to the Gryffindor table and sat down.

"So… They're coming over?" Dana asked calmly. Sirius nodded.

"Mom said she wanted the twins to have some friends with thm too and that it would be nice for me to spend time with my schoolmates," Sirius said.

"Poor Evans. This won't be so fantastic for her. They take pleasure in hurting her feelings," James said.

"Now we have to put up with the terrible twosome, and Snivvy and Malfoy," Sirius said.

"Happy Christmas," Dana said.

"Hopefully," Sirius said. "New subject please."

"Where's Evans?" James asked.

"She's in the hospital wing. She's got a virus or something. Supposed to be out of class all week," Veronica said.

"Poor thing," James said. "I'd bring her homework but I need to not get sick for the next game."

"I can do it," Remus volunteered.

"No, it's cool, Remus. I'm sure one of the girls will do it," James said.

"To even suggest that I'd carry and obscene amount of papers and books for her when a boy will do it instead is absurd," Veronica said.

"Besides, Remus volunteered. Let him do the world some good by doing this service for her," Dana said.

"And she'd appreciate it ever so much. And she'd appreciate you James, for not bringing it as a sad attempt to get her to like you which in turn will make her like you more," Veronica said.

"You're full of shit Veronica," James said. She smiled.

"Her bag is in our room next to her bed. Go in, get it, and come out. Touch nothing and look at nothing," Dana warned.

Remus nodded and went up to grab Lily's things.

"We're not stupid, Potter. Neither are you," Veronica said.

"What are you going on about?" James asked.

"It's so sad for you to take advantage of Remus' unconditional loyalty for you like that," she continued. "You know he fancies Lily and you know she fancies him too. You're the wedge that's trying to pull them apart."

"How so?" James asked. "I never told him not to make a move and he never said he was interested."

"But you know he won't take a chance at upsetting and Lily doesn't want to take a chance at ruining your friendship with him," Veronica said. "Or she'd have asked him out already."

"That can't be true. Evans hates me," James said.

"No she doesn't. She thinks very highly of you James. She knows how brilliant you are in school; she knows what an unstoppable seeker you and admires your loyalty to your friends. What she doesn't like about you is your cocky 'I can have anything I want' attitude and the way you treat other people. Lily has such an innocent soul that she does not want to see you get hurt or lose your best friend over her," Veronica said.

"That's so touching," Peter sniffled.

"Pretend all you like that it's not there but if you really cared about Lily and Remus… You'd let them be happy and stop being so selfish," Veronica said.

This would've been a good point for either of them to walk away, but instead, Veronica and James sat at their table, eating breakfast in silence.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It was just like helping her carry her books from the library except this load was much lighter.

Yet still, somehow Remus nearly regretted having volunteered for this job. Getting ALL of Lily's homework meant having to lug all of his things and her things around all day. Being as intelligent as he was the thought never occurred to use the "light as a feather" charm on her things or his things.

So he suffered as he reached the hospital wing.

The load seemed so much lighter when he saw her. She was a bit pale, but she was sitting up and, a good sign, she was eating. When people were really ill they didn't eat.

Ignoring the immense pain that developed in his side he made his way over to her.

"Hi, Lily," he said. Lily looked up from her soup and at Remus. She brightened. She waved. "Feeling better?" She nodded. "Good. I didn't know if you wanted it or not but, it was James idea, I'd have never thought of it, but I thought maybe you'd need something to do, but, here's your homework, if you want it. I can just take it to your room if you like."

Lily shook her head, a soft smile on her face.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome," he said.

"I have strep. My voice is gone," she went on. It was hard to hear her but he dared not move closer for fear he himself would get sick.

"I' m sorry to hear that. I've never had it personally but I've heard it's quite hellish," Remus said.

"Better than mono," Lily whispered. Her smile widened. She'd have liked to laugh but wasn't ready to start coughing and wheezing all over Remus.

"I had mono over the summer," Remus recalled. "Dad said I was the most pathetic werewolf he'd ever seen. Told me I was lying on the ground half a mile away not moving and that these rabbits had taken to kicking me."

Lily couldn't repress a giggle and paid the price for it. She held a napkin over her mouth as she coughed.

"Oh… I'm sorry," he said.

"It's fine. It's depressing enough being sick. I could do with some laughter," she assured him.

"Well I'll let you rest. I've got my own work to do," Remus said. He finally sat her bag down. The great weight was lifted from his shoulders. Lily smiled again. She took her pointer finger and motioned him closer.

Barely moving, for fear he'd wake the pain in the muscle he knew he'd pulled, he leaned over to her.

**A/N:** So I've pretty much taken to reviewing this story about 50 times before I post it because of the absurd amount of reviews that talk about how great my story is but boy does my spelling suck. I've always been aware that my spelling sucks but I was always to lazy to go back and fix it. I know how annoying it can be reading the work of people who can't spell. I try not to criticize them so much (because hey, I can't spell myself and that would make me a hypocrite) but I probably shouldn't put you lovely people through it as well. So hopefully this one is up to par… Hopefully. Let me know. Hugs & Chocolate.


	15. Lily Kissed Remus

Lily giggled and motioned him a little bit closer. When he was close enough she held her breathe and kissed him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Remus stood up, of course jolting his pain to life.

"You're welcome," he squeaked out.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

_No_, he thought to himself,_ I feel like I've ripped my stomach out of place and __it's__ painful and if James had seen what you'd just done he'd hospitalize me._

"Yeah, I'm okay… Perfectly fine," he lied. "I'm just gonna go now." Lily nodded. Remus turned to leave, but could no longer hide his pain. "Ow!"

"What happened?" Lily asked, just loud enough for him to hear.

"I think I've pulled a muscle carrying all those books for you," he said.

"Oh, Remus," Lily whispered out. He was helpless and pathetic and completely adorable.

Madame Pomfrey, hearing cries of pain rushed onto the scene to check out Remus.

"What's the matter boy?" she asked.

"I've pulled something," he admitted.

"You over work yourself Lupin. I have you in here enough as it is already," Madame Pomfrey said.

"Well at least I keep you busy," he said.

"I'll get you some ice," she said.

"You mean you don't have a quick fix for this?" Remus asked.

"Remus, we are to busy worrying how to cure dragon pox to worry about silly little muscle spasms," she said before walking off into her storage cupboard.

"I don't think I've ever wanted to punch someone in the face so badly before," Remus said.

Lily smiled as Madame Pomfrey rushed back over with a bag of ice.

"Put this on it," she said. Remus did as he was instructed and Madame Pomfrey scooted away again. She returned with an elastic bandage. "Shirt up."

With hesitance Remus raised his shirt up and Madame Pomfrey wrapped the bandage around him. Remus glanced over at Lily who was now scooting the food on her tray around with her fork, restraining herself from looking over at him.

"There, now try not to over exert yourself," Madame Pomfrey said. "And try taking a hot bath instead of a shower; that should help as well. It's still going to hurt for a day or two and it may bruise." Madame Pomfrey walked away.

Remus walked over to Lily. "I'm going to go before I hurt myself again." Lily nodded.

"Thank you again," she whispered.

---------------------------------------------------

"You snogged Remus?" Dana asked.

"Yes," Lily admitted. Her voice was slowly but surely returning to her, and after tomorrow she would be fully healed and able to return to class.

"How'd he take it?" Veronica asked

Lily shrugged. "You know Remus. He's very awkward all the time. You think kissing his cheek made it any better?"

"I bet he fell down," Dana said.

"Well he did but that's just because he pulled a muscle bringing me my homework," Lily explained.

"James is going to be pissed," Veronica giggled.

"No he won't, he won't find out. We have to spend Christmas with him remember. It's supposed to be a happy time of year, not one where James goes out on a vendetta against his best friend," Lily said.

"Oh! Speaking of Christmas I got some bad news," Veronica said. "Malfoy and Snape are coming over as well by order of Sirius' mother, the bastard child of satan."

Lily groaned. "Splendid. That means James will be the least of my problems. Now I have to deal with Snivellus."

"You two used to be friends, best friends remember? I'm sure you can put up with each other for a few weeks," Dana said.

"I do. Every year. I've known him most of my life. He lives right around the corner from me," Lily explained.

"Does he now?" Veronica asked. "That must be fun."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"But back to Remus," Dana said. "You should ask him out."

"But Potter-."

Both of the girls groaned.

"For you to hate him so much you sure do base a lot on his feelings," Dana said.

"I don't hate Potter. He's disgusting, he's rude, he's a certified pain the ass, but I don't hate him. My existence could certainly go on without him but I have to deal with him. Sometimes what is just complete disgust and revulsion just comes off as pure, unadulterated hatred," Lily explained.

"There's no changing her mind," Dana said. Veronica sighed.

"Well you need to or you're going to let a very good guy get away," Veronica said.

"I'm 15. There are other good guys out there, none of whom are friends with James Potter," Lily retorted.

"But how many of them would almost literally break their back to bring you homework?" Dana asked.

Veronica gasped. "He knew! He knew you were going to kiss him."

"What?" Lily asked with a cough.

"Remus knew you were going to kiss him. I know he did," Veronica said.

"How could he have known?" Lily asked.

"Why else do we tell boys to lean closer?" Veronica asked.

"I could've been telling him a secret," Lily said.

"He knew," Veronica said. "And I don't understand why you lead yourself on and why you lead him on."

"How do you lead yourself?" Dana asked.

"She kissed the boy she's mad about and she knows she can't do it again unless she goes out with him. And Remus probably thinks Lily is going to ask him out," Veronica said.

"Vicious cycle begins here," Dana said.

"What vicious cycle?" Lily asked.

"The one where you and Remus agree you cannot be together under any circumstances for fear you break Potter's heart and wreck their friendship. And then one day when you're studying together or doing homework you'll find your lips planted against his again and then you'll drive yourself crazy trying to fight away these feelings, such strong feelings, and then over and over again you'll find yourself running to Remus until finally you just give into your feelings or mope around miserable wondering what could've been," Dana said.

"You're so over dramatic, Dana," Lily said.

"No, she's not," Veronica said. "Just you wait. When you're out of this hospital just see how much Remus actually talks to you, I mean, without it being awkward."

"It was just-."

"Don't argue Evans," Dana said. Lily rolled her eyes. "You brought this upon yourself."

"Don't start anything you can't finish," Veronica said.

Lily sat back in her hospital bed and crossed her arms. She was never going to get her friends to stop their obnoxious predictions.

"I hate to abandon you Lily, but I've got to go visit Peter," Dana said flatly.

"What's with the tone?" Veronica asked.

"Hmm… It's just… Thing don't look like they're working out for us," Dana said.

"Oh, look at you Dana. Worrying about my relationship when you need to deal with your own," Lily said.

"This is different. I'm actually able to act on my feelings unlike you. I'm not scared regardless of who's getting hurt because I know my own feelings are important too," Dana said. "Goodnight, Lily."

Dana walked out of the hospital wing.

-------------------------------------------------

"It was random. I wasn't expecting it," Remus said. Veronica shook her head.

"You're a liar. You knew she was going to kiss you," she scoffed. Remus looked away. "Why don't you just ask her out yourself?"

"Cause its Lily," Remus said. "If it were any other girl in the world I'd have done it already but it's Lily. There's too much controversy around her."

"Controversy?" Veronica asked.

"Too many people fancy Lily and too many of them are friends of mine," Remus said.

"So what they're you're friends?" Veronica asked.

"You can't go out with someone your friend likes," Remus said.

"Then why is James trying so hard?" Veronica asked. "I know you've noticed how strangely he acts towards you these days. He knows you like Lily."

Remus shrugged.

"My advice to you is this Remus; for once stop thinking about everyone. That's all you ever do. You're completely unselfish and we love you for that but sometimes you need to think about yourself and do what Remus wants," Veronica said. "And if your friends are really your friends they will stick by you no matter what you do. For once someone besides you needs to set their feelings aside so you can be happy."

"Ronnie, I…" Remus shook his head. He didn't know how to finish his sentence.

"When you can prove it isn't true, Remus, I'll let it go," she said. "I won't tell anyone… Goodnight."

Veronica smiled at Remus before walking upstairs to bed.

Remus was the known thinker of the group, but this was the kind of thinking he could do without.


	16. Hella Awkward

_**A/N: So, I was looking through the site and found that I only 17 chapters when I had 18 saved. Obviously, I was baffled. So I looked through the site and work and discovered that I didn't post this one!! So here it is. Better late than never right?**_

As predicted things were as awkward as ever between Lily and Remus. While Dana and Veronica exchanged glances and giggled at the pair Sirius and Peter sat back and watched clueless.

James however was taking a new liking to Remus' treatment. In most classes where she'd out of reflex sit with Remus she found herself turning away and taking a seat next to him. The amount of time Lily spent studying with Remus had dropped to zero so James often managed to study with her when she'd get flustered from being around Remus to long.

Change was good. Very good indeed.

"She doesn't hate you does she?" James asked, playing his role of the concerned friend. 

"No," Remus chuckled. 

_She most certainly does not hate me._

"What happened, seriously? You two don't even make eye contact anymore," Sirius asked. 

"Nothing important," Remus said.

"Well I've seen cases like this before but with you Evans it's completely unlikely," Sirius said. 

"What?" Peter asked curiously. 

Sirius reclined back on the couch, the look of a deep thinker on his face. 

"I am under the impression that you saw Evans naked," Sirius said. 

"You saw Evans naked?!" James asked, jumping to his feet. "We have to get to a pensieve now!" 

"I didn't!" Remus exclaimed. "I didn't." 

"Then Evans saw you naked," Sirius said. 

"No!" Remus said. 

"She saw you dancing around in a tutu?" Sirius continued. 

"... Why in the world would I be dancing around in a tutu?" Remus asked. 

"I dunno, Remus. Why _would_ you be dancing around in a tutu?" Sirius asked. 

It never failed. Sirius always gave Remus a headache. 

"Well you must've done something wrong," Peter said. 

"I didn't," Remus pleaded. He wished James, the more logical of his friends, would step in and save him. 

"Why don't we just ask Veronica?" Sirius suggested. "Lily and Remus tell her everything and she tells me everything therefore I should be able to get to the bottom of this mystery." 

It was a well thought out plan on Sirius' part to be sure but Veronica and Remus were friends before they were friends with Lily and Sirius. She'd never tell Sirius anything that Remus didn't want him to know. 

Skipping down the stairs came Dana. 

"Hey, Dana," Sirius called out. 

Without a second thought Dana walked over, looking at her feet to avoid eye contact with Peter who she'd broken up a few days before.

"Have you seen Veronica?" Sirius asked. 

"No. She's probably in the library with Lily," Dana said meekly. 

"Well maybe you ca help us then," James said. "Remus and Lily are being very tight lipped about why they aren't 'BFFs' so much these days. Care to enlighten us?" 

Dana's eyes immediately shot up to Remus' who gave her the look - "LIE! LIE! lIE!" 

"I don't know anything," she said starting off. 

"Wait a second there Nichols," Sirius said. Dana stopped dead in her tracks. "You know and you know it. Don't lie. What happened?" 

"I told you I don't know anything," she repeated after glancing at Remus a second time. 

"Wormy, get Mooney," Sirius commanded. With a nod Peter jumped up and quickly covered his eyes. 

"What the hell are you doing, Pete?" Remus asked trying to fight him off. 

"Dana... Tell us," James said. 

Dana was an honest girl and she didn't often lie and she very easily cracked under pressure. 

She looked to Remus hopefully but he was still busy wrestling Peter. 

"Come on, Dana," James said. 

"Uh... Uh..." she began. James and Sirius stared at her more intensely. "Li... Lil..Lily... Lily saw Remus without any clothes on!" 

"Dana!" Remus shouted. Of all the lies she could tell she had to pick _that one._

"You liar!" Sirius laughed. 

"No wonder you two are so weird now," James said. "She can't look at you the same anymore." 

"Sorry, Remus," Dana said. 

Pushing Peter to the ground, Remus got up and pulled Dana from the coommon room. 

"What is wrong with you?" Remus asked. 

"I'm sorry," she repeated sadly. 

"As if there weren't enough rumors about me and Lily floating around the school and you tell Sirius, the town crier, the most absurd thing you can think of," Remus said. "Who taught you how to lie?" 

"No one. That's the problem," Dana said. "And you're not a very good liar yourself." 

"I've been lying to you about being a werewolf for five years. I'm pretty sure I can lie better than you," Remus said. "Where is Lily?" 

"The library," Dana said. 

"Then guess where we're going."

"Dana!" Lily groaned. 

Lily, Dana, Veronica and Remus had gathered in Moaning Myrtles bathroom to discuss the event. 

"Hey listen I was under a lot of pressure," Dana said. Now her ability to snap at people was coming out. 

"McGonagall and Dumbledore are already watching us like hawks. If they get wind of this they'll tell our parents for sure," Remus said. 

"Not mention the amount of questions girls are going to ask me now. I'm going to have to fake amnesia," Lily said. 

"Well," Veronica began. "If you two just start going out-." 

"Let's hand Potter the rope to hang himself with," Lily said quickly. 

"You two are the most completely stubborn people on the planet," Veronica said. 

"And I like it that way just fine," Remus said. "I'm immune to peer pressure." 

"Unless they force you outside to paint the doors of the school pink in the middle of the night while it's raining while you're in your boxer shorts," Dana said. 

Remus glared at her. 

"I don't think I like you right now," Remus said. 

"I know," she replied with a smile.

"Sam, go up to the common room now. First year curfew was an hour ago," Lily said. 

Sam, the first year, had proven herself to be quite the problem child since she'd arrived at school. She was constantly out of bed at night, in detention frequently and had a very bad attitude towards any authority figure that wasn't Lily or Remus. 

"But I don't want to go to bed. I'm not tired," Sam pleaded. 

"We can't keep covering for you Sammy. We'll get in trouble. You have to go to be. If we see you out again we'll have to give you detention," Remus said. 

Sam giggled. "I think it's funny." 

"What?" Lily asked. 

"You two will talk to discipline me, but ever since you snogged you won't talk otherwise," Sam said.  
Remus shushed her. "Who told you?" 

"No one. I saw it. I was walking to go see Professor Flitwick and I see you two locking lips," she said. 

"Didn't I just shush you?" Remus asked. 

"You didn't tell anyone-." 

"Not a soul, of course that could change if I don't get a pass for the library," Sam said. 

"Are... Are you black mailing us?" Lily asked. 

"Extorting sounds like a nicer word," Sam said with a smile. 

"I cannot believe this," Lily said taking out a pad of paper. She wrote the slip and gave it to Sam. "That's your only 'extortion' pass, Sammy." 

"I'd only ever hustle you guys once," Sam said. "My peer mentor, Veronica, said you were easy." 

_Why is Veronica of all people, a peer mentor?_

Sam started off down the corridor happily, pass in hand. 

Lily looked over at Remus. "She's right you know?" 

"I wouldn't be so sure. She did just 'extort' us after all, not to mention she's 11," Remus said. 

"I meant what she said about us not talking," I said. "I told the girls it wouldn't be weird but it is and... Now look at us. I've been reduced to hanging out with Potter." 

"It's not so bad," Remus said. 

"If you like being hit on every five minutes," Lily sighed. "Besides Potter's smart but not nearly smart enough for me to think any deeper than I usually do. I think my IQ has dropped since we stopped speaking." 

"Well what do you suggest?" he asked. 

"We put the whole thing behind us and not speak of it, like we did when Snape took that picture..." Lily said. 

"If we can get past that I'm sure this'll be easy," Remus said. 

The pair shook hands, both praying that things would stop being awkward. 

"Now all that's left to do is brave the new set of rumors that will most certainly be going around tomorrow thanks to Dana," Lily said. "Sirius is going to tell everyone and their mothers." 

Remus chuckled. "I think I have a plan."


	17. Grimmauld Place

"This is so lame," Bellatrix groaned as Sirius unlocked the door to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, his place of residence. Winter break had arrived and the group was preparing what could possibly the worst vacation of their entire lives.

"It's cold, Sirius," Narcissa complained.

"It'd be a lot easier to unlock this door if you two would shut your mouths," he said.

The twins rolled their eyes but were silent. A moment later Sirius opened the door.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he said letting his guests in.

"Big, dark, and scary as always," James said lightly.

"What's with all the… Heads on the wall?" Lily asked.

"That's what they do to our house elves when they've 'outlived their usefulness.' Well, that what mum told me at least," Sirius said.

"I bet they do that to mudbloods too," Lucius hissed. Suddenly he let out a howl of pain. "Who kicked me?"

"The mudblood," Lily laughed.

Lucius growled at her as the party moved down the hallway.

"Sirius!" a voice called out from ahead. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Auntie Walburga is still here," Narcissa said excitedly.

"Obviously. Her pride and joy isn't here yet," Sirius said.

"She'll probably yell at you for bringing him along yourself," Peter said.

"Yeah but I'm used to it. I don't even consider that little wart my brother," Sirius said.

"I hate your brother," Lily groaned.

"Is that because he pulled your skirt off in third year?" Remus asked.

"You forgot that it was winter and he pulled the skirt off so fast that I lost my balance and fell into the lake," Lily added.

"That was brilliant," Lucius laughed.

"Okay, this is not bash Regulus or laugh at Lily's unfortunate incidents hours. The fact remains that Lily is not supposed to be here and if your mom fines out she'll gut you and use your intestine as Christmas decoration and maybe Lily's as well," James said.

"Isn't that a shame?" Narcissa asked.

"Listen you three, you tell my mum she's here and I'll make your lives absolutely miserable," Sirius promised.

"Let it go you guys. Let's watch him dig his own grave," Bellatrix said.

"I'm gonna make you eat those words, cousin," Sirius said.

"Prove it," Bellatrix challenged. "Not a word about Evans."

The group of Slytherin's nodded.

"James take Lily upstairs and keep quiet," Sirius said.

"No offense, but I don't feel very comfortable being alone with James," Lily said.

"I tried, mate," Sirius said. "Remus you go with her instead."

"You know what, I think I'll take, Peter," Lily said suddenly.

"Ah. This is because you're still being all awkward because you saw him naked," Peter said.

"You saw Lupin naked?" Snape asked, disgusted.

Lily groaned.

"C'mon, Evans," Peter said. They headed down the hallway. He led Lily upstairs and the rest of the group proceeded downstairs.

They passed through a door and entered the kitchen at which Sirius' mother, Walburga Black, was sitting. To be the mother of someone as young as Sirius and Regulus she seemed unusually old.

"Sirius, you're here," she hissed.

"Good to see you too mum," Sirius said sarcastically.

"Where is your brother?" she asked.

"Away from me," Sirius replied.

"I told you to keep an eye on your brother!" she shouted.

"And since when do I listen? I barely wanted to come with these four but that was more bitching than I wanted to deal with," Sirius said. Despite the fact that he was talking to his mother and how crude she was being, Sirius rather calm about all of it.

"Where is your little lump of a friend?" Walburga asked.

"Do not-." Sirius paused and growled for a moment. "Don't call my friend a lump of a person and he's upstairs in the bathroom if you must know."

Walburga rolled her eyes. "Narcissa, Bellatrix, glad to see you're doing well. And you must be Lucius and Severus. I've heard wonderful things about the both of you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lucius said and Snape bowed his head slightly.

The front door behind them opened and slammed shut. A moment later the kitchen door opened and in walked little Regulus.

"What'd you leave me for?!" Regulus shouted.

"Leave you? I haven't looked at you or thought about you since the day before we started school. In fact I make a point to forget that you even exist when we are outside of this house. I can barely remember your name. What was it? Rodney, Rupert, Ralphie," Sirius said.

"Sirius," Regulus growled.

"No, that's my name," he replied.

Regulus turned and looked to his mother. "I'm going to go grab my bag from my room and then I'll be down in a moment."

"Uh… You know what? I'll get your bag!" Sirius volunteered, suddenly realizing his brother would sell him down the river if he found out Lily was here.

"Yeah right! As if I'm letting you in my room," Regulus scoffed.

"Don't worry I won't touch your dolls," Sirius said.

"No, I'll get it Regulus and show my friends to their rooms," Bellatrix said.

"Thanks, Bella," Regulus said.

Narcissa, Bellatrix, Snape and Lucius all exited the kitchen. Sirius stood there with his friends quietly at his side.

"So who are these two girls? Not mudbloods are they?" Walburga asked shamelessly.

"Uh, no," Sirius said. "The blonde girl is Dana Nichols and the other girl is my girl friend, Veronica Danes."

"Ah, this is the whore you're dating," Walburga said.

Sirius looked as though he were going to scream at his mother but Veronica instead stepped forward.

"Yeah, I am that whore he's dating. It's a pleasure to meet you," Veronica said happily. "And I must say you've raised quite a good son. If I hadn't met Sirius I'd still be sneaking out of school every Saturday night to work as a hooker in Hogsmeade. But he's turned me around and he's my one and only now. I don't even do drugs anymore."

Walburga's eyes widened, absolutely appalled.

"Well," Veronica giggled, "maybe I do LSD but only on special occasions. Like after Sirius and I got that second abortion."

Remus, James and Dana were red in the face, trying their hardest not to laugh. Regulus had stopped breathing and was slowly turning purple.

"FYI, he's an animal in bed," Veronica said as she ran her fingers through Sirius' hair.

Bellatrix bounded downstairs a moment later, Regulus' bag in hand. She paused and looked at the expressions on the faces of the people in the room.

"Did I miss something?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing. I'm a dirty whore is all," Veronica replied.

"I see," Bellatrix said sitting his bag down on the floor and then slowly inching out from the room.

"Come, Regulus. We don't want to miss our portkey," Walburga said. "Behave yourself, Sirius."

Grabbing her son they marched out of the kitchen and a moment later the front door opened and closed.

Remus, James and Dana could contain it no longer and burst into laughter.

"Brilliant performance, Ronnie," Sirius said.

"Well there was some truth to what I said. You are an animal," Veronica said.

"Okay, funny moment over," Remus said.

"Let's go get you people settled in," Sirius said.

He led them upstairs.

"Oi! Evans!" Sirius called out.

Lily and Peter appeared in the hallway just as her named was called.

"Your presence has gone undetected," Sirius said. "Since you're the odd ball out you can have your own room. That'll also make it easier to keep you hidden if my mum shows up unexpectedly. I trust Pete's already got you set up in a room."

"Indeed he does," Lily said.

"Alright then, Veronica, Dana you can have this room. Peter and Remus you can have Remus' usual room since Peter's room is better and Narcissa obviously gave that room to her two buddies and James you can crash in my room," Sirius said.

"Try again, Sirius," Narcissa said stepping out of her room.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"One of your friends has to get a room by himself," Narcissa said. "Lucius' room only had one bed so I put him in Peter's room. You're going to have to put three in a room unless someone wants to share with Severus and Lucius."

"Uh… You know what, I think I'll just take Peter then and save all my friends the trouble," Sirius said. "You don't mind having a room to yourself do you, Moony?"

"Not at all. All three of you snore," he said.

Sirius glared at Remus and finally looked back at his cousin. "You win this round, Narcissa."

With a smirk, Narcissa walked back into her room.

"I hate that woman," Veronica hissed.

"What can you do? Come on, let's unpack," Dana said.

Everyone dragged their things into their respective rooms, leaving Lily alone in the hallway. After standing there alone for a moment she walked over to Remus' room.

"Keep you company?" she asked.

Remus looked up at her a nodded.

Lily stepped inside. Just like her room it was dark with heavy curtain covering the windows.

"Sirius' mum, is she always like that?" Lily asked curiously.

"As long as I've known her. She can hardly stand having me around being a half-blood and all. I can only manage what she would say if she knew I was a werewolf," Remus said.

"I bet she'd probably think better of you," Lily said. "People are funny that way. I think the world would be a much better place if we all learned to get along and be friends with each other."

"Not everyone is as nice as you, Lily," Remus said.

"Oh, I'm not nice all the time," she replied. "I'm just nice to you all of the time."

"You know, I was certain you'd stop hanging out with me after you found out," Remus said.

Lily shook her head. "You're still the same Remus I always knew. Why should a silly little malady change that?"

"It's not a silly little malady, Lily," Remus said. Lily gazed down at her feet.

"I don't mean to make it seem like it's not a big deal because I know it is but... Nobody sees you any different. You're just Remus to us and I don't think that you should expect us to make a big deal of it," she said. "I mean, you've always acted like you have. We just learned something new about you and if it's always been there then that basically means you didn't change so neither did we."

"Thanks for being such a good friend, Lily," he said after a moment

Lily smiled. "And thank you too."


	18. Inquisitive Tonks

_A/N: Sorry that it takes me so long to update but I'd like to thank all the people that review as it makes my heart smile and motivates me to update faster._

From downstairs there was a knock on the door.

"Sirius, there's someone at the door," Bellatrix yelled.

"Well spotted," Sirius replied. He walked out of his room and downstairs to the front door. "Who is it?"

"It's me! It's me! It's me!" a small voice shouted.

"Is that my little cousin Nymphadora?" Sirius asked.

"No!" she replied. "I'm Tonks."

Slightly confused Sirius opened the door. In walked Nymphadora and Andromeda.

"She's taken to hating her name," Andromeda replied.

"It's stupid," Nymphadora said stamping her foot angrily.

"She'll only answer to Tonks or Dora now," Andromeda went on.

"Well… Tonks, go ahead upstairs and James is here and Peter and Remus-."

She started squealing and dashed upstairs.

"So, is your girl friend here?" Andromeda asked.

"Yep, Veronica's here. She met my mom. Can't say that went particularly well," Sirius said. "First thing my mom said was 'so this is the whore you're dating.' Veronica responded in her usual sarcastic fashion as if she didn't care but I know she was a bit shaken by it."

"I'm sure if you're dating her she'll be able to brush off your mother," Andromeda said. "Now are my sisters here yet?"

"Of course," Sirius replied. "And so is Lily."

"And Walburga knows she's here?" Andromeda asked.

"Heavens know. The twins want to watch this blow up in my face so they kept quiet about her," Sirius said.

The pair headed upstairs where James was carrying Nymphadora around on his shoulders.

"Hey, Ann," James said.

"Hi, Mommy. Remus is talking to a girl," Nymphadora giggled.

"That's just, Lily," James said.

"Lily's pretty," Nymphadora said.

She and James were standing in front of Remus' open door.

Lily and Remus walked out of the room.

"Lily are you Remus' girl friend," Nymphadora asked.

Lily shook her head. "No. I'm not. I'm just his friend."

"She's my girl friend," James said. Lily glared at him.

"Do you know what a lie is, Nymphadora?" Lily asked.

"Call me Tonks!" she shouted.

"Okay," Lily said not wanting to invoke the wrath of the four year old. "Do you know what a lie is, Tonks?"

"Yes. It's something not true," she replied.

"What James just told you is a lie," Lily said.

Tonks gasped. "James is a liar?" She started hitting his head repeatedly. "Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!"

"Okay you little rug-rat. Just stop hitting me," James said.

As James pulled her off his shoulder she knocked his glasses off as she flailed around excitedly.

The glasses landed in front of the bedroom door belonging to Lucius and Snape. The door opened and out stepped Narcissa and Lucius.

Narcissa bent down and picked them up.

"These yours, Potter?" she asked.

"Who else wears glasses?" James asked snatching them away.

"Aunt Cissy!" Tonks cheered.

"Dora!" Andromeda snapped. "Here, now."

Narcissa rolled her eyes. "You afraid to let my own niece near me?"

"Wouldn't want you rubbing off on her," Andromeda said.

A discouraged Tonks skulked back over to her mother.

"Where's Bella?" Andromeda asked.

"Unpacking," Narcissa replied.

"Where'd Snivelly go?" Sirius asked.

"He's in bathroom," Lucius replied.

"Hopefully he's washing his hair," James joked.

"Oh! Look what I can do!" Tonks cheered.

She stood in front of her mother and closed her eyes tightly. She scrunched her face up tightly and her mousy brown pig tails turned a bright shade of bubble gum pink.

"Amazing," Lily said.

"I'm a metamorphagus," she said blushing the same color of her hair.

Veronica walked out of her room with Dana.

"Lily have you seen my hair brush?" Dana asked.

"No, sorry," Lily replied.

"Oh, dang it," she said crossly.

"Oh! Mommy she said a bad word!" Tonks squealed.

"Hey, kid no I didn't!" Dana said defensively.

"I'm Tonks. What's your name? Are your Sirius' friend? I'm his cousin. I'm four years old. I'm a metamorphagus," Tonks went on.

"Hi there, Tonks. I'm Dana," she said.

"That makes you, Veronica," Andromeda said.

"Aye, that's be me," she replied blushing. "Apparently Sirius likes to talk about me."

"Even before you were dating," Andromeda said.

"Oh, I'm flattered," Veronica giggled.

"Are you Sirius girl friend?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, I am," Veronica said with a smile.

Tonks turned to Narcissa said. "Aunt Cissy who is that scary boy there with you?"

Lily couldn't help but repress a laugh.

"This is Lucius," Narcissa said.

"Why is his hair so bright?" Tonks asked. "Can he change it like me?"

"Uh… No. It's like that all the time," Lucius said.

"Oh… I'm sorry," Tonks said.

Lily laughed again.

"Are you guys all settled in, Sirius?" Andromeda asked.

"Yep. We were going to go get a tree," Sirius said.

"When did we decide that?" Lily asked.

"Just now, so we don't get cabin fever," Sirius said. "Where's Peter?"

"Lollygagging," James replied.

"Peter! Come on!" Sirius said.

A minute later Peter walked out Sirius' room.

"You know he's OCD about his stuff. He's the tidiest person I know," Dana said.

"Are you going to join us on our adventure, Narcissa?" Sirius asked.

"Not at all," she replied. "I have the distinct impression you mean to let us starve so I decided to try and prevent that."

"Oh… Yeah… I didn't even think about eating," Sirius said.

"You're a genius, you are," Dana said.

"Alright then. I'll be back tomorrow," Andromeda said.

"We'll still be here and so will the house," Sirius assured her.

"Dora," Andromeda said, "time to go."

"Awe," Tonks groaned. "Bye."

"It was nice meeting you Nympha… Tonks," Lily corrected herself.

Tonks and Andromeda walked downstairs and left.

"So we're going to get a Christmas tree?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah. It'll be pretty lame considering I haven't got much muggle money but it'll be festive at least," Sirius said.

"Well let's go before Snivellus shows up again," James said. "I'd like to see him as little as possible thanks."

_**A/N: All who review get to point at Lucius and laugh at his unusually blonde hair.**_


	19. This Kiss

_A/N: I must be the only failure who take a year and half to update a fic, but there are bigger losers than me who don't update at all. I apologize for neglecting this fic for as long as I did and I even toyed with the idea of deleting it all together, but I was hit with inspiration for this story (at long last) and finally have the will to see it through to the end, and I hope that you do as well._

_-------_

Sirius, Remus, James, Peter, Lily, Veronica, Dana, Narcissa, Lucius, Bellatrix and Severus had all gathered around the dinner table for their first meal of the break.

The boys had set the Christmas tree up in the lounge and had decorated half of it with very Gryffindor ornaments while their house guests had taken to decorating the other half with Slytherin ornaments.

It was to be an odd holiday indeed.

Everyone ate in an awkward silence, occasionally asking someone to pass some sort of food to the other side of the table.

"This dinner is lovely, Narcissa," Lily said breaking the silence.

Her friends looked at her as if she'd just broken some kind of unspoken rule. The others stared at her as if she were crazy.

Narcissa paused before answering.

"I'm sure it's better than anything your muggle parents feed you," Narcissa replied.

"Sheesh, I can't even pay you a compliment without you being a bitch?" Lily asked.

"Who said anything about anyone being a bitch?" Narcissa said. "I was simply stating a fact."

"No. You were assuming, and you know what happened when you assume -."

"Evans, just let it go. There's no getting through to her," Sirius said.

"Why not let the girl fight her own battles?" Bellatrix said.

"How about you stay on your end of the table?" Sirius asked.

"How about everyone just calms down and stops arguing? I personally was enjoying the silence and my dinner before anyone was talking," Dana said.

"Oh, shut up," Narcissa said.

"Well excuse me fore trying to make this a little more pleasant," Dana said.

"All I did was say that you cooked a nice meal and here you are, attacking me," Lily said crossing her arms. "I just don't get it. What did I ever do to you?"

"You exist," Narcissa replied.

"That bothers me about you too but I still had the decency to give credit where credit where credit is due," Lily said.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, you little Mudblood," Narcissa said.

Lily lept out of her chair and lunged at Narcissa. Remus who was seated next to her grabbed and pulled her away from Narcissa.

"Why do you have to be so awful all of the time? You're already smart, you're not ugly, you're not a psycho like your sister over there! Why do you have to be such a bitch?" Lily asked as Remus restrained her from attacking Narcissa.

"Evans you can try to talk your way out of all of your foolishness but you're wasting your time. You're a Mudblood. Your children will be Mudbloods and so will their children," Narcissa said.

"Well you know what, I hope our children meet and fall in love and procreate so your children will be Mudbloods too, so fuck you, Narcissa Black," Lily said. She reached out and flipped her plate of food over on the table. "Your fucking chicken is dry."

Lily freed herself of Remus' grasp and walked upstairs. Everyone sat at the table completely silent, until Sirius started applauding.

"Well done, Evans! Well done," he said laughing heartily. "Someone should go talk to her by the way. I feel like she might break something."

"Oh, look, Remus you're standing up. You've volunteered," Dana said.

"Thanks," he said going over to the stairs. He walked up them and found himself at Lily's room. He tapped on the door. "Lily, it's Remus. Can we talk?"

Lily opened the door. She was crying, thankfully. She just looked angry.

"Hello," she said beckoning him inside.

"Quite a show you put on down there," he said as she closed the door.

"I suppose I did get a bit carried away," Lily said as she closed the door. "And I really hope our children don't procreate. I can't imagine having my grandkids sharing her genes, you know, especially since some of them belong to Sirius."

"I could imagine how that would put you off," Remus said. "But are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily said a small smile crossing her face. "I just can't stand being in the same room with that girl - being in the same house with her is driving me crazy enough."

"Well I'm sure we'll find a way to eat dinner away from them for the rest of the break to prevent any more incidents," Remus said.

"Sirius had better," Lily said.

"You can probably leave that to me and James. Sirius applauded you after you left," Remus said.

Lily laughed. "He would, wouldn't he?"

Remus nodded. "You've been very. . ."

"Cranky? I know," Lily said. "I can't help it though. I'm still a bit peeved that my parents ditched me for Christmas."

"Well you've got me, though I may be a poor substitute for your actual family," Remus said.

"No, never. I enjoy every moment I ever spend with you, ever," Lily replied sweetly. "You mean so much more to me than just being my best friend."

". . . Do I really?" he asked.

"You know you do," Lily replied rolling her eyes, a slight smile dancing on her lips. ". . . I didn't kiss you for nothing after all."

Remus looked up at Lily. "I thought we weren't going to talk about that anymore."

"Oh, but Remus I can't help it!" Lily said sitting next to him on her bed. "I fancy you like crazy. You're all I think about."

"Lily, please stop," Remus pleaded with her. He knew where this was going and it couldn't go there. James was his best friend. This was the ultimate betrayal. You never date your best friend's girl.

"No, I can't I won't," Lily said. "If we just keep pretending and pretending this will never go away. Why, why, we'll be stuck in a vicious cycle."

"How so?" Remus asked.

"Because, one day we're going to find ourselves alone together studying or talking and I'm just going to lose control and kiss you again and we'll go crazy trying to fight off these feelings, such strong feelings, and I'll find myself running back you and it'll happen over and over and over again until we finally just give in or lose our minds wondering what about what could've been," Lily said.

". . . Wow," Remus said, amazed at the speech she had just given.

"I know, it's all about James. James, James, James. . . But you matter too, Remus. And so do I, and I know neither of us wants to hurt him but. . . I don't want to suffer like this anymore," Lily said throwing herself back on her bed, as if the weight of this stress had finally crashed down on her.

"Lily," Remus said sitting her up, "I just don't know. I mean he's my best friend. You just, you don't go out with a girl your best mate interested in."

"So that means I have to suffer and be without you?" Lily asked.

Remus groaned. "Why are you making this so difficult?"

"Why are _you_ making this so difficult?" she asked poking him. "What's difficult is fighting off our feelings for one another. Pretending that they aren't there. But you know what's easy?"

Lily grabbed Remus by the front of his shirt and forcefully pulled him into a kiss.

"That is easy. Kissing you, caring about you, being with you and showing that I care is easy," Lily said. "And it's wonderful too."

Remus couldn't deny that. In that very moment he was resisting the urge to kiss her again.

"James-."

"Doesn't have to know," Lily said.

"That's awful deceitful," Remus said.

"Well, yes obviously we'll have to tell him at some point, but it's not like we have to go hop downstairs and be all like 'hey, James, we're totally going out now.' That would be stupid. But. . . We could give this, us a try for a while and. . . When we were more serious we could tell him then," Lily said. "I mean what would be the point of just telling him if we just ended up working out better as friends?"

"So you're saying we should start going out, give us a try, and if it works out then tell him?" Remus asked.

"Yes," Lily said. "And if we don't work out, there's no reason for James to ever find out."

". . . Are you sure about this?" Remus asked.

"Lot's of people do it all the time. Veronica and Sirius did, though I expect they hid their relationship so they could shag each other without us knowing about it," Lily said.

"If you really think this will work," Remus said.

"Remus, you stupid boy, I'm crazy about you. Right now, I want nothing more than to be with you," she replied running her fingers through his hair.

Remus grabbed her hand and brought it down from his head.

"Likewise," he said.

Lily smiled. "So. . . We're really gonna do this?"

Remus nodded.

Lily was so overwhelmed with excitement that she threw herself enthusiastically into a kiss with Remus, catching him off guard, but he didn't mind.

They were both completely content not having to hold back, not having to hide their feelings from each other. It was as if a giant weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

That is, until the door opened.

_------_

_A/N: Reviews would be great after so long._


	20. Secret Lovers

A/N: An update that took less than a year to post. I hope you're all as pleased as I am.

-----

Lily and Remus snapped away from each other as Sirius came into the room

"Remus!" Sirius shouted, shocked at what he had just walked in on. "You. . . You. . . James is going to murder you!"

"No he won't," Lily said pulling Sirius into the room and closing the door. "He won't because you're not going to tell him."

"The hell I'm not," Sirius said. "The betrayal! The deceit! The lies!"

"Sirius, shut up," Remus said.

"Oh, he gets a girlfriend and then he gets all serious!" Sirius said.

"Listen, Sirius, we're friends now right?" Lily asked.

"Just barely," he replied.

"Well, you have to not tell James about this," Lily said. "We are going to tell him. . . We just have to make sure that this relationship isn't going to crash and burn before it even gets anywhere."

"So you're going to see if you actually like being together before you actually tell anyone you are?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Lily said. "Lot's of people keep their relationships on the hush-hush."

"You and Veronica did," Remus said.

"Well that was so we could shag each other without you guys knowing about it," Sirius said dismissively. "It's completely different than what's going on here."

"It is not," Lily said. "Our reasons are just different."

"Do you know what James'll do to me if he finds out I know about this?" Sirius asked. "This can either not happen or you can go tell him right now."

"Please, Sirius?" Lily pleaded.

He groaned. "I am going to regret this sooo much."

"No you won't," Lily said hugging him tightly.

"Yes, just stop hugging me. I feel dirty enough as it is. That's just making it worse," Sirius said.

Lily let him go and smiled. Sirius looked to Remus.

"You're going to be in the most trouble. He'll be mad that you waited to tell him if he forgives you at all," Sirius said.

"He will. James may be a dickhead, but he's not gonna toss out a friendship over a girl. Not even me," Lily said. "Trust me."

Sirius got to his feet and walked to the door.

"I'm going to tell them you're crying and Remus is consoling you or something. You two can go back to. . . Celebrating I guess," he said.

He walked out the door and closed it behind himself. He immediately slammed his palm to forehead. James was going to find out eventually. And sure, when they eventually told him what was going on he was going to lose it.

If Remus had decided to fancy any of James' other squeezes there wasn't a doubt in Sirius' mind that James would let it go, encourage Remus even. But no, he had to go and hook up with Evans. To James, Lily was a goddess, forbidden territory, not allowed to be touched or even talked to by anyone other than him.

James had hooked up and dated with plenty of girls in his time at Hogwarts, but he'd drop them all in a second if Lily Evans came knocking on his door. She was his perfect woman.

Sirius dragged himself back into the kitchen where his cousins and their friends had left. His friends remained at the table conversing.

"What are they doing up there?" James asked.

"Oh, the usual - Evans is crying and off on an angry rant about Narcissa and Remus is trying to calm her down," Sirius said.

"One of these days Lily is going to rip Narcissa's face off. Lily is just gonna snap," Veronica said.

"Did you see the way she jumped in the air to attack her? She would've succeeded if Remus hadn't grabbed her," Peter said.

"Can I ask you girls something, and answer honestly," James said. "Do you think Lily has feelings for Remus?"

"Honestly?" Dana asked.

"Oh, yeah. Big time," Veronica said with a chuckle. "Remus is quite the idiot if he can't tell."

"And if he does now, he's a swell guy for not letting it affect their friendship," Dana said.

"Remus wouldn't knowingly spend so much alone time with Lily if he knew she fancied him," James said.

"Why not? Because he's your best friend?" Veronica asked. "And because you like Lily?"

"Well obviously," James said smoothly.

"Mister High-and-Mighty, get off your cloud," Dana said. "The heart wants what the heart wants and if they want each other you can't stop that."

"But, for now, Lily won't even think about making a move on our buddy Remus for your sake," Veronica said.

Not true. Definitely not true anymore, Sirius thought to himself.

"What do you mean for my sake?" James asked.

"Well, I'm sorry if this offends you, but we've be pressuring Lily to ask Remus out since the start of the year," Dana said. "But she's always going on about what good friends you and Remus and how she doesn't want to come between you two."

"Because she would," Veronica said. "But like we said, she won't go for it."

"Why've you been trying to set them up?" James asked.

"Because Remus is better for her than you are. You are a douche bag and Remus is not," Veronica went on.

"Well, what do you think, Sirius' old buddy?" James asked.

"Why do I have to have an opinion?" Sirius asked.

"Because, you're my best mate of course," James said. "Besides, you're too quiet. It's unsettling."

"Well. . . Evans doesn't like you. . . And she does like Remus. . . And we all know he likes her. . . It would just be kind of unfair to stop that from happening," Sirius said.

". . . Are you quite serious? Do you really believe that?" James asked.

"Well if it makes them happy. . . I mean they're your friends, at least Remus is anyway and well. . . If they were making themselves unhappy just to make you happy. . . That's not fair," Sirius said.

"Oh, my gosh, Sirius pulled his head out of his ass and is thinking about other people's feelings," Dana said.

"That is so hot," Veronica said.

"Sirius, you're going soft on me," James said shaking his head. "Remus can't go out with Lily. I like her."

"Well, Remus likes her too," Dana said.

"How about no one goes out with Lily then to avoid fighting?" Sirius said. "That's the only fair thing to do."

James was silent. Veronica got out of her seat and walked over to Sirius, standing him up.

"I want you now," she said pulling him upstairs.

"I don't know, Babe, I just don't feel up to it," Sirius said. "I'm in a rather off state at the moment."

"Well I can fix that, easy," Veronica said. She opened the door to the first room she could and, just like Sirius walked in on Lily and Remus.

This time Lily and Remus weren't making out, just sitting and talking, enjoying one another's company.

"Oh, sorry," Veronica said.

"Yeah, as long as I'm sleeping here no shagging allowed in this room, thanks," Lily said.

"What are you two going on about? Not still upset about Narcissa are you?" she asked.

"No. We were just talking," Remus said.

"Good, oh and you ought to know, that James is a prick and is still very much against the two of you being together," she said.

"Sirius, you told Veronica?" Lily asked.

Veronica smiled and then stepped inside closing the door.

"Sirius hasn't told me anything," Veronica said.

". . . Good going, Lily," Remus said giving her a thumbs up.

"What's going on?" Veronica asked.

Remus and Lily exchanged glances.

"They're going out," Sirius said, as if containing the information inside any longer would make him explode. "And they're not telling James about it."

"Really?" Veronica asked. "Wow, what an extraordinary turn of events, especially some so out of character. When did this happen?"

"Right after we came upstairs," Remus admitted.

"Wow! Not long at all. Well I for one encourage this," Veronica said. "So when do you plan on telling James, eventually?"

"Yeah," Lily said.

"Yeah, I remember Sirius and I kept our relationship a secret. Of course, that was just so we could shag without any of you guys knowing about," Veronica said.

"And now when you have sex everyone knows about," Lily said.

Veronica giggled. "Well, your secret is safe with us."

"Sadly," Sirius said glumly.

"In the meantime, I think Sirius needs a but of, uh, 'cheering up' if you know what I mean," Veronica said.

"Sadly I do," Remus replied.

She pulled Sirius from the room and closed the door behind her.

"Veronica is kind of a tart," Lily said.

"Sadly I agree," Remus said. "But at lest she's only with Sirius. It's not like she gets around."

"True, and I bet your buddy Sirius would've caught something by now if they weren't monogamous," Lily said.

"Again," Remus said, "sadly, I agree."

-------------------

A/N: All those who review get the opportunity to be Remus' secret lover, if they so choose.


	21. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

-1Lily sat on the couch reading. She could've very easily sat up in her room and read but, she liked the fire place, and there was something charming about the creepy décor of Sirius' house.

"Hello, Evans."

Lily turned around and saw James standing there.

"Potter," she said turning back to her book.

"Can we chat for a second. I wanted to talk to you," James said.

"No, I will not go out with you," she said, something she'd grow used to saying.

"No, it's not about that. It's about Remus actually," James said.

"What. . . What about him?" she asked setting her book aside.

"Did you know he likes you?" James asked jumping over the couch and landing right beside her.

". . . Remus and I are just friends. What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Lily, let's be honest, you're the smartest girl I know. I know that you know how Remus feels about you," James said. "And we all know you like him."

"So, what are you saying, that I should ask him out or something," Lily asked.

"No, of course not," James said.

They both managed a quiet laugh.

"I'm just saying. . . I like you," James said.

"Duh," Lily said rolling her eyes.

"And it would honestly really hurt me if you two went out," James said.

"Really? How bad?" Lily asked.

"Lily, I'm in love with you and Remus has been my best friend since we were 11," James said. "I'd be totally betrayed if you went out."

"But why? Don't you want Remus to be happy?" Lily asked.

"Course. he's my best mate after all," James said.

"And don't you want me to be happy?" Lily asked.

"Yes. . . But with me," James said.

"James," Lily said getting to her feet, "yes, I like Remus and I haven't asked him out because he's your friend and that's not because I care about your feelings personally, but because I care about you as a human being."

"Thanks for that," James said.

"But James, you are not the king of the world, you do not control everyone, not even Remus. If I went upstairs right now and threw myself at him would he stop me?" Lily asked.

"Course he would. Cause he's my friend," James said.

". . . But if I threw myself at you then you wouldn't stop me," Lily said.

"Course not," James said.

"So, let me get this straight, Remus can't go out with me because it would hurt your feelings, but you can go out with me because Remus' feelings don't matter?" she asked.

". . . I don't mean it like that," James said.

"Oh but you do mean it that way. If you go out with me wouldn't that hurt Remus?" Lily asked.

James paused before answering. "Well yeah, but. . ."

Lily grabbed her book from the couch. "Thinking like that, James is exactly why I will _never_ go out with you. Thinking like that is exactly why I fancy Remus and not you. Because sure, Remus _does _fancy but he won't ask me out because he cares about your feelings over his own."

James sat there, knowing he was right but unwilling to admit it.

"Goodnight, Potter," she said.

Lily walked upstairs and when she entered the hallway she saw Remus sitting on the floor outside of Sirius' room with Peter and Dana

"What are you guys doing up?" she asked.

"Oh, you know, Sirius and Veronica just can't keep it in their pants," Peter said.

"I can hear them through my wall," Dana said.

"Why are you up?" Remus asked.

"Just having a chat with James. A civilized one for once," Lily said.

"What'd you talk about?" Dana asked.

"Someone else besides himself for once, though he's still and unreasonable asshole," Lily said.

"Oh, he's not so bad is he, Remus?" Peter said.

"No. He can be reasonable most of the time otherwise we wouldn't be his friend would we?" Remus asked.

"True, though in some cases he should just concede," Lily said. "Dana, you can crash with me tonight if you like."

"Gladly," she said. "Goodnight boys."

Dana got up and followed Lily into her room and closed the door just as James came up the stairs.

"Oh, is everyone having a little party without me?" James asked.

"Yes, just a small gathering to celebrate Veronica and Sirius shagging _again_. I've never seen a pair of hornier teenagers in my life," Peter said.

"Indeed, Wormtail," James said having a seat with his buddies. "And Moony, my buddy, I just wanted to tell you something."

". . . Okay," Remus said.

"After having a little discussion with Evans it came to my attention that I may not be as sensitive as I think I am, and I want you to know, that no matter what I do, how I act, I do care about your feelings," James said.

". . . Thank you?" Remus replied.

"You're welcome. And the same goes for you Pete. I do care about your feelings," James said.

"I'm touched," Peter replied.

A moment later Veronica walked out of the room. She looked dead at the boys sitting there on the ground.

"Hello, there" she said going to her room. "Goodnight."

Sirius walked out into the hallway.

"I think I'm in love you guys," Sirius said.

"Sex does not imply love, Sirius," Remus said. "It should, but it doesn't."

"Well I know that, but she's nice to have a chat with as well," Sirius said.

"She's nice to have a chat with?" James asked.

"Well that's all not all obviously. I mean, she's all I think about, ever," Sirius said. "She makes me smile."

"You sound like a woman," James said.

"Then let me. . . I think I love her," Sirius said.

"Well good for you," Remus said.

"I approve," Peter said.

"So do I. Just tone down the shagging would you. We're all a bit too young to be the god father's of your children," James said.

"Please, I'm 15. I'm not having any kids," Sirius said.

"So has said every teenage parent ever," Remus said.


	22. Happy Christmas Day

"Lily! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Sirius shouted, banging on her door.

Lily sat up in bed. "What time is it?"

"It's present time! That's what time it is!" Sirius cheered.

"Do you have to harass everyone?" Remus said.

"I am not harassing, I am spreading Christmas cheer! Do you feel the cheer, Evans? Do you feel it?" Sirius shouted.

"Oh, I feel something, alright," Lily replied, feeling something closer to the desire to hex Sirius as opposed to Christmas cheer.

Still, she had to admit, Christmas was her favorite holiday and even though this year it was a bit different than she had expected she was still happy to be at least spending it with her friends.

Lily climbed out of bed and walked out of her room.

"Where are our Slytherin friends?" Dana asked.

"Having a little celebration of their own in Regulus' room. Apparently our Christmas tree is too beneath them," Peter said.

"Well it's the shittiest Christmas tree I've ever seen. It's mostly dead," Veronica said as they headed downstairs.

Sirius scoffed. "It is not a bad Christmas tree. It is in fact the best Christmas tree ever! It shows the real spirit of Christmas. Even if it is very dead and there are hardly any needles left on it, it conveys the idea that it is not about the Christmas tree, or even the presents underneath it, but all about the people who you are spending Christmas with."

"Gee, Sirius, that's really sweet," Lily said.

Out of nowhere, Sirius threw Lily into an awkward and uncomfortable hugging, lifting her clean off the stairs.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted.

"GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!" Sirius shouted.

"That's wonderful. . . Please put me down," Lily said awkwardly.

Sirius put her down and they walked down into the living room.

"Alright, let's get started," Sirius said jumping under the tree. He started passing out presents to everyone.

"Aw, Evans, you got me a present," James said.

"Yes, yes, don't think too much on it," she replied dismissively opening her sweater from Dana.

"This just means you like me a little," James said. "I'm starting to get to you. I may even have a chance at getting you now."

Lily and Remus exchanged an unnoticed glance.

"Nope," Lily said.

"We'll see," James said.

They all opened their gifts, showing off back and forth about how excited they were about them. As they finished, the rest of their house guests found their way to the living room.

"Well what a happy bunch you are," Lucius said.

"Go take your bad attitude somewhere else. It's Christmas," Sirius said putting a Santa hat.

"Where did you get that?" Remus asked.

"It's Christmas. It's not important," Sirius replied.

"We're not here to cause trouble," Snape said.

"I find that hard to believe," Veronica said rolling her eyes.

"We're just going to make some breakfast," Narcissa said. "No need to be hostile."

"Well good. . . Be gone. . ." Sirius said.

The group rolled their eyes and walked out of the room.

"I guess Christmas brings out the best in _everyone_," Peter said.

"Indeed," Sirius replied. Then he started going off singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

"Hopefully they won't take too long with breakfast. I'm starving," Peter said rubbing his grumbling belly.

"Well we could always eat with them," Dana suggested.

"Yes, and we could also watch Lily roundhouse kick Narcissa in the face," Remus said.

"I am physically incapable of roundhouse kicking someone," Lily said.

"You'd be surprised the things you can do when you've got all that adrenaline pumping through your veins," Sirius said.

"In other news, what are we going to do today?" Veronica asked.

"We could ice skating!" Sirius suggested.

"I love ice skating," Lily said.

"Then that settles it," James said. "Anything to make Lily happy."

"Thank you, James, but I don't want to do something that not everyone wants to do," Lily replied, a blush on her cheeks.

"Ice skating will be fun. I'm fine with it," Veronica said.

"Me too," Dana replied.

"We can't say no to the girls, Remus. They'll make our lives hell," Peter said.

"I had no intention of doing such a thing," he said.

"Then it's settled. After breakfast, we'll go ice skating," Sirius said.

After their Slytherin house guests left the kitchen the group made their own breakfast and made their way to the park.

"Wow, this rink is packed. You'd think all these guys would be home with their families on Christmas," Lily said.

The ice skating rink was crowded with teens and children and parents all there for a little Christmas ice skating.

"Well maybe they're like us, Evans, and their families abandoned them to go explore more fun options," Sirius said tossing an arm around her shoulder.

"I suppose that's one explanation," James said.

"Who cares? I just want to skate," Peter said.

"Peter, on a scale from one to ten, how much do you love ice skating?" Sirius asked.

Peter paused before he answered. "I'm going to say. . . eight, eight and a half."

"Well, at least he's honest," Lily said.

"Yes, honesty. I think we could all be a little more honest, right, Lily?" Sirius asked.

Lily leered at him. "Sure," she replied.

"Anything that you want to confess?" he asked.

Lily knew his game and wasn't about to let him get to her.

"Every second that you stand here with your arm around me, my desire to kick you in the nads increases, greatly," Lily said.

James laughed as Sirius released Lily.

"Let's go, you guys," Veronica said.

They all rented skates, laced up and then set off on the ice.

Out of nowhere, James grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her away from their friends.

"So, talk to me, Evans," James said. "How have you been?"

"Splendid," she replied, humoring him. "And yourself?"

"Quite alright," he replied with a laugh. "So, can I ask you something about our chat last night?"

"I guess," she replied.

"Have you ever genuinely considered going out with, Remus?" James asked.

Lily smiled. "Of course I have and I still am."

"What can I do to change your mind?" James asked.

"Nothing, and it's like I told you before, the only real reason I haven't gone out with him is because of you, after all," Lily replied. "Because we don't want to hurt your feelings."

"Wait, 'we'? You mean you've talked to Remus about this before?" he asked.

"Of course I did. I meant to ask him out then but, no, your friendship is more important than a romantic relationship with me," she said. "And I guess I think your friendship is more important as well."

James sighed. "It would really suck if you guys went out."

"And that's why we're not," Lily said.

"So. . . You both know you like each other. . . And you're both not going out because I like you?" James asked.

"No, because you're his friends _and_ you like me," she corrected him. "Though, I don't really like giving you so much power. I have a half a mind to skate over to Remus and snog him right now."

"You wouldn't," James said.

"Wouldn't I?" Lily challenged him letting go and starting to drift away. "And I bet he wouldn't even push me away."

"Go on, break my heart, why don't you?" he said.

"Maybe I will," Lily said, even though she knew she already had and that once James found out she'd been feeding him a bunch of bull shit he'd be furious beyond words.

"Come on, Evans," James said.

Lily sighed. "I give you too much power, Potter."


	23. Janessa Fluker

_[A/N: PixieVAMP393 said "I love this story but would ya update?" Yes, PixieVAMP, I will. I am SO SORRY it's taken me so long but I ran into a wall while writing this chapter. It's short but I figured something is better than nothing.]_

"I cannot believe I had to cut my hair," Veronica complained.

"It's just the ends," Dana pointed out. "Stop whining."

The group was back at Hogwarts. They'd managed to keep Lily's presence there a secret from Sirius' mother, much to the dismay of his cousin. However, on New Year's Eve they did managed to almost burn Grimmauld Place to the ground when their dead Christmas tree ended up falling over into the fire place.

"I still feel like I'll never be able to get the smell of smoke out of my clothes," Lily replied.

The girls pushed open the door to their dorm and were surprised to see a petite girl dark haired girl unpacking her things at Lisa's old bed.

The girl turned around and smiled at them.

"Hi!" she said. "You must be my roommates."

"Roommates?" Veronica asked.

"Yeah. I'm a transfer student. I'm new. My first day of class is tomorrow," she said. "I'm Fluker. Janessa Fluker, though most people usually just call me Fluker because apparently they really like the sound of my last name."

"Chatterbox," Veronica whispered to Dana. Dana nodded with a giggle.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lily. This is Dana and the girl that you're probably thinking is going to be an annoying bitch is Veronica and sadly she will meet those expectations," Lily said.

Janessa looked over to Veronica. "I'm sure you're not."

"No, I am," Veronica said with a smile. "It's part of my charm. And just as a warning, I shag my boyfriend in here frequently so if the door is locked don't go try unlocking it."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I think you shouldn't be doing it in our room in the first place. If you're with Sirius you're better off doing it in a broom closet."

"Oh, we do. Our bedroom is just a nice change of scenery," Veronica said. Lily stuck her tongue out at her. "Don't be like that Lils. You know you're only so bitter about it because you walked in on us once."

"And that I think is reason enough," Dana said.

The girls walked in and started to unpack their things from their trip.

"So, tell us, Fluker, what are you like?" Veronica asked.

"As long as she's not like Lisa I'll be fine," Lily said.

"Was Lisa your roommate before me?" Janessa asked.

"Yes. And she was wretched. Thankfully after five years of torturing us, she got kicked out," Dana said.

"And there's no way you can possibly be worse than her," Lily said. "Everyone is practically saintly compared to her."

"_Almost_ everyone," Veronica replied. "We did just spend break with Satans Little Helpers didn't we?"

"I'm already blocking it out," Lily said. "They're in Slytherin and while most of the Slytherin students here are pretty revolting the Black twins, Lucius Malfoy, and Severus Snape really, really, _really_ take the cake. They're all about being pureblood and they hate Gryffindors and unfortunately they've made me cry once or twice."

"I'm guessing you're a muggleborn then," Janessa said.

"Yes," Lily said. "Dana's a half blood and Veronica's a pureblood."

"I'm from one of the oldest Wizarding families around. The Danes are older than the Malfoys and the Blacks," Veronica boasted. "Of course everyone in my family up and married muggleborns and half bloods so, unless my parents decide to have any male children, I'm the end of line."

"And how does your family feel about it?" Janessa asked.

"Well, my grandparents are very old fashioned," Veronica said.

"By old fashioned she means muggle haters," Dana said.

"Yes," Veronica chuckled. "But all in all, they mostly don't care. Though, I think it's mostly because my boyfriend is a Black and if _I_ managed to branch the Danes family onto to the Black family they'd have a fucking field day."

"Your boyfriend is a Black? All I've ever heard about their family is that they're full of the most awful sort of people imaginable," Janessa said.

"Sirius is the one person in their entire family who is this close to being disowned from their family, like literally," Dana said.

"Yeah. Three of us spent Christmas at his house. Before his mother left, we had to sneak Lily into the house so his mother wouldn't do it right then," Veronica said.

"They have a very strict 'no mudbloods allowed' policy," Lily giggled.

The girls bedroom door burst open and there was a loud thud. In the doorway, the Marauders stood, with the exception of Remus who was lying on the floor.

"Speak of the devil," Lily said.

"Remus, what're you doing on the floor?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know. Why did _you_ put me here?" Remus replied climbing to his feet.

"What are you guys doing here?" Veronica asked.

"We've come to spend time with you of course. We're bored all by ourselves," James said. "Who's the new girl?"

"Wow, be a little more rude," Lily said.

James rolled his eyes.

"This is our new roommate Janessa Fluker," Dana explained.

"Janessa this is James, Remus, Peter, and my boyfriend Sirius," Veronica said.

"You'll come to learn Peter and Remus were probably the only ones raised with manners," Lily said. "Sirius only has them occasionally and Potter only has them when it's convenient."

"Aw, Evans, why you must you be so unkind?" James asked.

"Why must you?" Lily retorted.

"I'm guessing they don't get along very well," Janessa said.

"Oh, we get along just fine," James said.

"No, we don't," Lily said.

"You see, Evans is just crazy in love with me but in severe denial about it," James said. "All of our problems could be solved if she'd just go out with me already."

"I can't imagine _why_ she wouldn't," Janessa laughed.

"See, Evans. Even New Girl here can see we were made for each other," James said.

"You keep believing that," Lily said shoving her trunk under her bed.

"I will," James said.

"They're like this all the time I'm afraid," Remus said. "Have been since first year."

"It does get annoying if you're wondering," Peter put in.

"I can imagine," Janessa said.

"But in the mean time we're bored," James said. "Entertain us."

"What do you want us to do? We just got back barely half an hour ago," Dana said.

"Well we could put _you_ in a cage and make you dance for treats. That would be entertaining," James said.

"It'd also be entertaining too hang you from the astronomy tower by your underpants," Dana said.

"You know, Dana, that doesn't sound entertaining at all. To me that sounds like you're just looking for an excuse to see me in my underpants," James said.

"I didn't say anything about watching you hang there. I would however love to watch you try to sit down after enduring something like that," Dana said.

Peter shuttered. "That'd be worse than a bowl full of habanero and wasabi paste coming out the other end."

Remus shook his head. "I'm surprised I'm still able to taste after that incident."

"I'm surprised the lining of my stomach is still intact and that there was no lasting damage to my digestive system," Sirius said.

Janessa opened her mouth to question the boys but Lily stopped her.

"You _don't_ want to know. Just trust me," Lily said.

"What do you do for entertainment, New Girl?" James asked.

"Uhm. . . I like to draw," Janessa said going into her trunk and pulling out a sketch book. "Would you like to see?"

"Certainly," James said taking the notebook and flipping through it. "Bugger me. . . These are brilliant."

"You think so?" Janessa asked, coyly.

"They are. They're amazing," Sirius said. "You plan to do this professionally?"

"Probably not. I want to do something with cosmetics. It's not exactly a job you need magic for but I am a witch so I'm here," Janessa said.

"Oh, you have your future planned out. Good for you," Sirius said.

"Yeah, for all my genius I don't know _what_ I want to do with it," Lily said.

"You could invent something," Sirius suggested.

"Like what?" Lily asked.

"I don't know. If I tell you then you won't really have invented it will you?" Sirius asked.

"I know I want to be a healer," Dana said. "Like, an OB/GYN for witches."

"Looking at vaginas all day—sounds like my kind of work," James said.

"You disgust me," Dana said.

"Your face disgusts me," James retorted.

"Now children, be nice," Peter said.

"Alright, so after observing all of you briefly I've concluded that Veronica and Sirius like to shag each other and also watch you all bicker. Remus and Peter act as mediators. James likes to hit on Lily. Lily like to shoot him down and Dana and James just don't get along at all."

"Quick learner this one. I like her better already," Sirius said.

"I've been told I'm a fairly likable person," Janessa said.

"Awesome, now we know what to expect," James said. "Just stay away from the Slytherins."

"So I've been told," Janessa said.


	24. The Break Up

_[A/N: I'm going to try to update this more often, because I love this series so much and I feel bad for neglecting it for months at a time.]_

Janessa fell in perfectly with the girls and the Marauders and over the next few weeks she assimilated into their group as if she had been there the whole time. Now when people brought up Lily, Veronica, and Dana, Janessa was also mentioned.

The Marauders liked her because she didn't have all of the annoying traits that the girls had that sometimes made them impossible. Janessa was combative like Dana, she wasn't bitchy like Lily, and didn't tease everyone the way Veronica did.

Usually she would sit around and draw and occasionally offer her opinion or make a quip about or to someone when appropriate, but mostly they appreciated her because she was the best listener anyone had met since Remus.

It was the beginning of February and the craziness of the holidays were behind them. The group was glad to have the drama that had occurred at Grimmauld place to be out of their minds, but new problems were stirring at school.

Lily and Remus' relationship was becoming more difficult to hide from James every day, especially when he spent every waking moment with them. Not only was his mere presence a problem but his relentless pursuit of Lily and how he constantly brought up his disapproval of a relationship between her and any of his friends made it harder to even tell him. With everyday that past the prospect of telling him at all became a challenge.

They weren't the only ones having relationship trouble either.

James, Remus, and Dana were standing outside of the girl's bedroom door, listening intently to the feud that was going on inside between Sirius and Veronica.

Lily and Janessa walked up to them, staring curiously at them.

"What are you doing lurking outside our door?" Janessa asked.

"They're fighting. Veronica and Sirius," Remus said.

"They fight all the time," Lily said dismissively.

"I bet if you listen long enough you'll hear their angry sex and if you listen a little longer you'll hear their makeup sex," Janessa said.

"I think they might be breaking up actually," James said.

"What makes you say that?" Lily asked.

"Well for starters, Sirius is a liar, a cheater, and an asshole," Dana said.

"Hey, he's not an asshole," James said.

"Well if you're a cheater then you're a liar and if you're both of those things then it automatically makes you an asshole," Dana said.

"Sirius cheated on Veronica?" Lily asked. Dana and Remus shrugged. "Potter?"

"Evans," he replied.

"Did Sirius cheat on Veronica or not?" she asked.

"And why should I know?" he asked.

"Because Sirius loves to kiss and tell, and who better to tell than his BFF James?" Lily pointed out.

"Why would I tell you? So you can tell Veronica?" James asked.

"Or you could just tell Veronica. It would be really noble of you," Janessa said with a smile.

James groaned. "Look, it's none of our business."

"That's exactly why we're here with ours ear pressed to the door listening," Remus said.

"Okay, _yes_ he cheated on her one time that I know of," James said.

Lily gasped.

"Are you really that surprised?" Dana asked.

"I've known him a month and I'm not," Janessa said.

"With who?" Lily asked.

"Some Ravenclaw girl," James said. "But just like one time."

"One time is enough," Dana said.

"Remus, will you back me up here?" James asked.

"I don't condone that type of behavior," Remus said.

James scoffed. "Peter would defend me."

"Peter would totally side with us," Lily said matter-of-factly.

"Only out of fear," James said.

"That's enough isn't it?" Janessa asked.

Just then door opened causing James, Remus, and Dana to go tumbling to the ground.

Sirius stood there, angry in the face staring down at them.

"What are you doing?" he asked, slightly irritated.

He stepped over them and walked out of the dorm before they could answer.

Dana was the first on her feet and walked into the room.

Remus and James stood and watched as Sirius walked off.

"He looks upset," Remus said.

Dana walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself.

"We'll they've broken up," she said. "Apparently Sirius and Carlita were a little too close in the third floor corridor."

"Is she alright?" Janessa asked.

Dana nodded. "She just wants some space right now she says so I'd let her be for a few hours."

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I recall Sirius saying he was in love with Veronica and couldn't stand the thought of being with someone else," Lily said.

"Maybe he does love her, but maybe he's still too immature to think with his brain instead of his dick," Janessa said.

"He didn't shag Carlita," James said.

"That doesn't make it any less his penis' fault," Janessa said. "He should try to keep it in his pants every now and again."

James rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Coming Remus?"

"I haven't got anything else better to do," he said.

James and Remus walked up to their dorm leaving the girls to linger in the hallway.

"Poor Ronnie," Lily sighed. "I mean, Sirius is my friend and I feel bad that he's probably upset by all this but, he's a pig."

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," Janessa said.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked.

"Probably that you're just as bad for sneaking around with Remus and not telling James," Dana said.

"This is not the same thing. James isn't my boyfriend and I'm not cheating on him. I'm not doing anything wrong," Lily said

"Then why not tell him?" Janessa said.

"Because I don't want to hurt his feelings," Lily said. "That would be like if you hooked up with Sirius now that he's broken up with Veronica."

"Except that would be worse and we would have to shun you," Dana said.

"You know, Remus and I can't even go to the Hogsmeade trip together this Saturday for Valentine's Day because of all this. If, Potter had a girlfriend, he might not be so worried about who _I_ was dating," Lily said.

"He's not going to go hunting for anyone else," Dana said.

"So does he just turn down dates from other girls all the time?" Janessa asked.

"Girls don't ask James out," Lily said.

"Why not?" Janessa asked.

"Because he's mad about Lily. Other girls think they don't stand a chance," Dana said. "They're probably right."

"So there are no girls in the whole of Hogwarts who are ballsy enough to ask out James Potter?" Janessa said.

"Well, Fluker, not everyone is as ballsy as you," Lily said.

The girls were silent for a moment and then Dana piped up. "Oh! I have an idea!"

"What is it?" Janessa asked.

"Oh, it's an idea so smart that my head would explode if I even began to know what I was talking about," Dana said.

". . . You're making zero sense," Lily said.

"What if, and stay with me, what if _you_ asked James out Janessa?" Dana suggested.

"That's madness," Janessa said. "Why don't you ask him out?"

"Because he hates me," Dana said. "But James like you well enough. You could just ask him out for Valentine's Day, distracting James long enough for Remus and Lily to enjoy the day together and who knows, you might even enjoy yourself."

"I think you've been spending too much time with the Marauders, Dana," Lily said.

"But. . . That could actually work," Janessa said. "And I can be very persuasive."

"This is. . . Completely crazy," Lily said.

"Not really," Janessa said. "And I'll prove it. I'm going to ask him out right now. I'll see you in the common room and tell you about how well it went."

"Your confidence is inspiring," Lily said.

Janessa gave her a wink and then headed off to the boys' dorm. She hadn't been there many times so it was unfamiliar territory, but she found their room easy enough.

She knocked on their door and waited a moment.

"Come in," James said. Janessa pushed the door open and walked inside. "Hey, Fluker. What brings you?"

"Just came to hang out," she said plopping down next to him on his bed. "Where's the rest of your posse?"

"Remus and Peter went to go look for Sirius and make sure he doesn't do something stupid," James said.

"And why aren't you helping them?" she asked curiously.

"I do damage control if he _does_ something stupid," he replied.

"That's almost really nice of you," Janessa said.

James shrugged. "I guess. Veronica and I may not see eye-to-eye all of the time but she's cool. But Sirius is my best friend."

"Not sure whose side to take on this one?" Janessa asked.

"I suppose you can put it that way," James said.

"How about. . . You wash your hands of it," she suggested.

James stared at her confused. "I can't just let it go. They're my friends."

"Of course they are. And you're always busy being a good friend. When is the last time James Potter did something for himself?" Janessa asked. "Like what are you doing this weekend at Hogsmeade?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Hanging out with Sirius, Remus, and Peter I suppose."

"No," Janessa said shaking her head. "You're not."

"I'm not?" he asked. Janessa shook her head again and smiled. "Then what am I doing?"

"You're hanging out with me," she said.

"Am I?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes you are. Just you, me and Hogsmeade," she said. "I've never been before. You'll be like my tour guide."

James scoffed. "This sounds an awful lot like a date, Janessa."

"And so what if it is?" she asked.

"Have you considered the possibility that I don't want to go on a date with you?" James asked.

"Of course I have. It would be illogical if I hadn't. I mean you're absolutely smitten with Lily aren't you?" she asked. "But you're James Potter. You have options. Test the waters."

"With you?" he asked.

"What's the worst that can happen?" she asked. "Besides, I'm not giving you a choice."

James threw his hands up in defeat. "Then I guess, I'll see you Saturday then."


	25. Valentine's Day

_[A/N: Thelosttwin wanted me to update and so I am. Tahdah!]_

There was no denying that Lily was hungry that night when dinner rolled around, but there were more important things for her to deal with today.

Lily walked into her room. The curtains on Veronica's bed were closed. Lily walked over to her bed and peeked inside. Veronica was lying on the bed reading.

"Hey, buddy," Lily said.

"Hey," Veronica said shortly.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Veronica nodded and closed her book.

"I think I've cried enough for one evening," she replied sitting up. "I know he loves me. And I love him. . . Which is why I just don't get it."

Lily sighed as she climbed onto the bed with her friend.

"Sirius is a bit of a moron if you haven't noticed," Lily said. "Everyone agrees that he does love you he's just too big of an idiot to show it properly."

"Sure but everyone knows _not_ to cheat," Veronica said. "It's common fucking sense. You don't cheat on someone that you love. You don't cheat on anyone at all. And you certainly don't let them catch you."

"I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now, but I know it gets better," Lily said.

Veronica nodded and let out a deep breath. "Alright. Tell me something that isn't depressing. You and Remus—how are you? You guys are never depressing."

"Us? Same as always. In hiding," Lily replied. "Oh, but we are going to Hogsmeade together on Saturday."

"Really? How'd you manage that? Telling James you were 'studying' or something?" Veronica asked.

"No, actually, Janessa bamboozled him into going a 'date' with her on Saturday so Remus and I could go out together," Lily said.

"Wow, way to take one for the team, Janessa," Veronica said with a nod of approval. "Of course, you could always just tell Potter. That might be easier than this elaborate ruse you've cooked up."

"Right now I'm happier with the ruse," Lily said confidently. "Besides, Janessa has the kind of personality I think he'd like. He may actually forget about me. This could be brilliant."

Veronica shrugged. She clearly didn't have the type of investment in the plan that Lily did, but was trying to be supportive anyway.

"What are you going to do on Valentine's Day?" Lily asked.

"I'm thinking I might just put a bunch of spiders in Sirius' underwear drawer. It would make me feel better," Veronica replied with a nod as if she'd been thinking it over for a long while. But then she gave Lily a serious look and took a deep breath. "I know Sirius is still kind of your friend, right?" Lily nodded. "You don't have to stop hanging out with him just because he was an asshole to me."

"Actually, I only got friendly with him because you two were together. Now that you've broken up it's perfectly acceptable for me to stop speaking to him. It's expected even. That's what best friend's do after all," Lily said.

"But that boy you're pretending not to date is best friends with him," Veronica said.

"Yeah, but since it's a secret it would look suspect if I stayed friendly with Sirius or if Remus got offended that I didn't speak to him," Lily said.

"You've actually thought about this haven't you?" Veronica asked.

Lily smiled. "Obviously."

888

Valentine's Day had arrived and the school was in a love induced frenzy.

The Marauders were sitting in the Great Hall, waiting for the OK to head out to Hogsmeade and their dates, where applicable.

"I still don't understand why you're going out with Janessa," Sirius said.

"She kind of forced it on me to be honest. She's very forward that Fluker girl," James said.

"And what about Lily?" Peter asked.

"Maybe seeing me off with some other girl will be just the push she needs to come 'round," he said.

"Pretty crappy of you to just use Janessa like that," Peter said.

"It's one harmless little date, Wormtail. Don't worry about it," James said.

"Speak of the devil," Sirius said motioning to the entrance.

Janessa and Lily were walking into the Great Hall. They came and sat down with the Marauders, which they hadn't done in the few days that Veronica and Sirius had broken up.

"Hello, Lily, almost forgotten what you look like, it's been so long since I've seen you," James said.

"You're about to go on a date with my roommate and you're flirting with me?" Lily asked.

"No, it's cool, I'm not easily deterred from my prey," Janessa said winking at James.

"Your prey?" James asked. "Now I'm a little bit more excited about our date today."

"You should be. I've been known to be very exciting on dates," Janessa said.

"And what will you be doing today Evans?" James asked.

Lily took a swallow of orange juice and pointed at Peter and Remus.

"Can you two hang out with me today?" Lily asked. She'd planned this ruse out with Remus and the girls before.

"Where are Dana and Veronica?" Sirius asked.

"They're going to spend the whole day celebrating the end of your relationship," Lily said. "And as much as I enjoy bashing you Sirius, I'd rather not dedicate and entire day to it when I could be having fun not having to endure these sorts of problems."

"Well you can't just take my friends from me. Who will I hang out with?" Sirius asked.

"I dunno. Maybe one of those girls you cheated on my friend with would be a nice replacement," Lily said.

"Come on, let's not fight you guys. I _hate_ when you fight," Peter said.

Lily sighed. "Sorry, Pete." Lily looked over to Sirius. "Just give me one of them."

"Excuse me?" Sirius asked.

"Give me Peter or Remus to hang out with today and you can keep the other one," Lily said. "We both win."

"Except last I checked my friends were people and we don't take turns with them," Sirius said.

"Well if you hadn't cheated on Veronica maybe I'd just hang out with all four of. Being that that isn't the case maybe you would consider relinquishing one of _our_ friends from your side today to hang out with me," Lily said.

Sirius sighed. "Whatever. Which of you is going to abandon me?"

"Well you make me feel bad if you put it that way," Peter said sinking down in his seat.

Lily looked over to Remus. "What about you Remus? Willing to ditch the cheater and hang out with me so I won't be left to meander around Hogsmeade looking lonely and pathetic."

". . . I dunno. . ." Remus said looking to Sirius.

"C'mon, don't make me twist your arm," Lily said. "I mean that literally by the way. I will twist your arm."

Remus sighed. "Fine."

"Well, huzzah. Looks like everyone's going to have company today," Lily said.

888

"I'm actually surprised that this has worked out so well," Remus said as he and Lily sat in the back corner of the Three Broomsticks sipping butterbeer.

"Me too. Potter didn't even flinch when I 'forced' you to hang out with me. I think Janessa's plan actually worked. I don't give her enough credit," Lily agreed.

". . . You do realize we'll have to come out about this eventually," Remus pointed out.

Lily sighed. "Yeah. Even if he does end up going out with Janessa I imagine he won't be too happy with the fact we were lying to him. And not just us. But Sirius and Peter and the girls as well. You're supposed to be his friend. I guess even _I'm_ supposed to be his friend in some really odd way."

"This is really complicated," Remus replied.

"It wouldn't be so difficult if I didn't like you so much or if I weren't so concerned with sparing Potter's feelings," she said.

"If you didn't care so much I might not fancy you at all and then we wouldn't be in this situation," Remus said.

Lily smiled at him. All she wanted to do was lean across the table and kiss Remus, but all of her classmates were watching and things would surely be ruined if she pulled a stunt like that. She'd have to be content with snogging him later in some deserted corridor during prefect duty.

"Oi! Lily! Remus!"

The pair looked over to see Peter and Dana walking over to them.

"Oh, hey, what's up?" Lily asked as Peter and Dana sat down.

"I know the two of you are supposed to be on a secret date or something," Peter said. Lily, Remus, and Dana shushed him quickly."Oh, sorry. Anyway, I know you're supposed to be hanging out alone but something has come up."

"What?" Remus asked.

"Veronia and Sirius totally made up," Dana said. "He came back by the dorm all apologetic and stuff and she totally went for it. They're probably sullying every shaggable surface in our dorm as we speak."

"Those animals," Lily said shaking her head.

"_But_, then there's the matter of Janessa and James who totally look like they're hitting it off," Dana said.

"Really?" Remus asked.

"Yes. There was some definite hand-holding and snogging going on," Peter said.

"That is the most excellent news I've heard all day," Lily said. "Now we'll finally be able to tell him without him going all crazy on us."

"You know, if Janessa isn't just playing it up to keep him distracted," Dana pointed out.

Remus frowned at her.

"Every party needs a pooper, that's why we invited you," Remus said.

"Just being honest," she said. "If that is the case, at least you'll have had today right?"

"Or you could, you know, just tell him the truth anyway," Peter said.

"It's not that simple," Lily said.

"Actually, I think it is," Peter said.

"If it's so easy then you should tell him," Dana said.

Peter frowned and then stared down at the table.

"Right then," Lily said.

888

"Potter is not as big of a fat head you think he is," Janessa said. "I'd actually go out with him."

"And why won't you?" Lily asked.

"Because he is whipped," Janessa said. "Nothing I can do, hun. You're just gonna have to come clean about Remus."

Lily groaned and flopped back down onto her bed.

"At least you tried," she said.

The door to the dorm opened and Dana walked in shaking her head.

"What's going on?" Janessa asked.

"Walked to the boys dorm with Remus to borrow his potions notes from yesterday and we totally walked in on Veronica and Sirius. I am scarred for life," Dana said.

"It's not like it hasn't happened before," Lily pointed out.

"You don't get it. I've Sirius' ass many times, but this is the first time in my life I got a whole. . . Full frontal," Dana said.

Lily snorted, not meaning to laugh at Dana, but she couldn't help it.

"I'm so sorry," she giggled.

"So can I ask you something?" Janessa asked.

"Sure," Dana replied.

"Is Sirius as big as Veronica makes him out to be or is she all talk?" Janessa asked.

Lily belted out a laugh as Dana groaned.

"I'm trying to block it out. I don't want to ever be able to recall the size of Sirius Black's penis," Dana said.

"Good to know," Veronica said walking into the room.

"This day just keeps on getting better," Lily said sitting up. "What's this about you getting back together with Sirius?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like," she replied.

"I do not approve," Lily said.

"I thought you said I can date whoever I wanted, even if it was Sirius Black?" Veronica said.

"That was before he messed around with Carlita," Lily said.

"I hear she has syphilis," Janessa whispered.

"What an awful thing to say," Dana said.

Janessa shrugged. "It sounded like a good deterrent didn't it? Who'd want to sleep with someone who might have syphilis?"

"Not me," Lily said.

"So says the woman who's dating the werewolf," Veronica said.

"Being a werewolf isn't contagious dear," Lily said.

"Oh, yeah. That was ignorant of me to say," Veronica said. "And it's not like you're sleeping with him anyway."

"Indeed," Lily said.

At that moment Dana cleared her throat and pointed to Janessa. It was then that they realized she has no idea that Remus was a werewolf.

"Uh-oh. . ." Veronica said.

"Remus is a werewolf?" Janessa asked. "He's a werewolf? Like full moons and howling everything?"

"Janessa you cannot tell anyone," Lily said. "No one can know."

"But he. . . But he. . ."

"But he nothing. He's one of our friend very bests friends. He's never hurt anyone and he's nicest person on the planet. You cannot say anything. If people find out he'll be thrown out of school," Veronica said.

"But the teachers-."

"They all know already. Every full moon, Madame Pomfrey walks him to the whomping willow out on the grounds and there's a secret passage way that leads to the shrieking shack and he transforms there and every morning he walks back to school, right as rain and no one is the wiser," Lily explained.

"Is that why he has-."

"All of those scars? Yes," Dana said.

"And he missed-."

"All of those class at the end of last month, also yes," Veronica said.

Janessa plopped down on her bed and let out a deep breath.

"Are you all right?" Lily asked.

"I'm in a little bit of shock, but I think I'm fine," she replied. "How long have you know?"

"Since the beginning of the school year. James and the others have known for ages though," Veronica said.

"Remus is harmless, really. I doubt he could fight his way out of a wet paper bag, even as a werewolf," Dana said.

"You cannot tell," Lily said.

"All right, I get it. My lips are sealed. I won't tell a soul. He's my friend right? You don't betray your friends like that," Janessa said.

"Thank goodness," Veronica said. "I thought for a moment we were going to have to wipe your memory and that would've been bad. I'm rubbish with memory charms."

"And other charms in general," Dana said.

"Shut up, Dana."


	26. Sirius Black aka Life Ruiner

_[A/N: I don't know what happened, but people keep messaging me like "OMG UPDATE RAWR OR IMMA EAT YA" so as to avoid being eaten or sporked to death, here is an update that took less than 6 months. Please enjoy.]_

"Why do we always have to patrol down by the dungeons?" Lily complained as she and Remus dragged themselves up the stair after their prefect duty. Valentine's Day had come and gone and with it, so had all of February and most of March.

"No one else wants to hang out with the Slytherins," Remus said.

"Yes, but does that mean they can assign two of the Gryffindors who have been personally victimized by them to their territory?" Lily asked.

"I guess so," Remus replied.

"It's not that I don't enjoy being a prefect, it's just that for once I'd like to do my rounds without being verbally assaulted for being a muggle born or a ginger," Lily said.

"Well it is wrong to be a ginger," Remus teased.

"I can't help that I'm a ginger," Lily said.

"Yes you can. Being a ginger is a personal choice," Remus said. "_I _might like you, but other people might not be so forgiving of your lifestyle."

"Oh, stop. Your tolerance is making me swoon," Lily said dramatically.

They reached the top of the stairs and Lily pulled Remus into a kiss. This was going to be her last chance to get in any type of PDA (if it could be called that in the deserted corridor) with him for a few days because of the full moon tomorrow night.

"Ahem."

Lily and Remus slowly parted from each other to see Severus Snape standing at the bottom of the staircase across from him.

"Oh, no," Lily said quietly.

"Well this is interesting," Snape said approaching the couple. "I was under the impression that Potter had made you, off-limits, Evans."

"You act like I'm property or something," Lily said rolling her eyes.

"If you feel so strongly about it then why are you working so hard to keep it secret?" Snape asked.

Remus and Lily exchanged glances. Snape walked past then and started down the stairs.

"Don't worry—your secret's safe with me. . . For now," Snape said.

888

"You're fucked," Sirius told Remus the next afternoon while James was away at Quidditch practice. The boys were in the library "studying" for their upcoming OWL exams, but they obviously had more pressing matters to tend to.

"Don't be so encouraging," Remus replied.

"I'm just saying, Snivellus knows, and that means you're fucked," Sirius said. "Sorry about your luck mate." Remus groaned. "Don't feel bad, your relationship isn't the only one that's on the rocks."

"In his defense, Remus isn't in trouble because he cheats on Lily," Peter pointed out.

"I don't go out with the intention of cheating on her," Sirius said. "But if a pretty girl says 'hey, Black, wanna make out?' how can I possibly say no?"

"You say 'I have a girlfriend. I cannot snog you'," Peter said simply.

"It's not that easy—most of them know I'm dating Veronica," Sirius said.

Remus shook his head. "You're dating her for the moment. Until she finds out about Olivia."

"She already knows about Olivia," Siruis said.

"So you're hiding from her?" Peter asked.

"Correct," Sirius said. "Speaking of it, you guys wouldn't bringing me up some dinner would you?"

"Sadly I can't. I'll be busy," Remus replied glancing at his watch. "I have about an hour before I have to hit the road."

"Oh, right, you're on your period," Sirius grumbled.

"I hate you," Remus said.

"There you guys are!" Janessa exclaimed dashing into the library and right over to the boys. "I have been looking all over for you. Since when do you congregate in the library?"

"Miss Fluker, you'll do well to be quiet in the library," Madame Pince said angrily from her desk.

"Sorry," Janessa said in a loud whisper before turning back to the boys, rolling her eyes. "Someone takes her job way too seriously."

"Why were you looking for us?" Sirius asked.

"Because Veronica is pissed at you, Sirius," Janessa said. "I don't know who Olivia is, but she's in the hospital wing right now because Veronica found her and cleaned her clock. Gryffindor lost like 50 house points and she's in detention until the end of April."

"Wow. I bet she is pretty pissed," Sirius said.

"Yep, and now she's looking for you. And Lily is looking for Snape to try to convince him to keep his mouth shut about Remus," Janessa said.

"That will never work," Peter said.

"I know, which is why Dana is trying her best to talk her out of it," Janessa said. "And you, Peter, are the only one who can keep out of trouble so from now on I'm hanging out with you."

"I approve," Peter said.

"Also, Professor Slughorn stopped in the hallway and invited me to this thing called 'the Slug Club' and wanted me to remind you, Sirius, that it was tonight as well," Janessa said.

Sirius groaned. "Veronica looking to kill me _and_ the Slug Club all in one night. I bet Lily's going to do nothing but scold me the entire evening."

"I'm sure your problems are horrible and all that, but we really do need to figure out what to do about Snape," Remus said.

The group sat quietly at the table for a few minutes before Sirius got an awful idea.

"I will handle Snivellus," Sirius said.

"How?" Peter asked.

"It's no big deal really. I'm just going to give him a bit of a scare," Sirius said. "Peter, I will be requiring your assistance actually."

"What are you up to?" Remus asked.

"Don't worry your little head about it," Sirius packing up his things. "Come along, Wormtail. The Marauders have work to do."

Sirius and Peter exited the library.

"Nope—that wasn't suspicious at all," Janessa said turning to Remus. "You worried?"

"Quite worried," he replied. "Do me a favor, Janessa."

"Certainly," she said.

"Give Lily heads up that Sirius and Peter are planning on pranking Snape. Usually I'm not opposed to it, but for some reason this isn't really sitting well with me," Remus said.

"What can she do about it?" Janessa asked.

"Probably discreetly warn James about Sirius is up to," Remus said.

"And _I_ can't warn him discreetly?" Janessa asked.

Remus laughed. "I doubt there's a discreet bone in your body, Fluker."

888

James, Janessa, Sirius, and Lily had gathered for another evening at one of Slughorn's dinner parties. Janessa had been invited, they assumed, because of the way she was able to so easily smooth talk their potions master into believing anything and he found her to be incredibly charming. Janessa's lovable personality was for once, her downfall.

Like her three friends, she was not enjoying herself in the slightest.

"And you come to these all of the time?" Janessa asked.

"At least once a month," Lily said boredly. "Usually we skip them but since he invited you and you promised we would show up, here we are."

"I am really sorry, I opened my mouth," Janessa said. "Anyway, have you warned James about Sirius?"

Lily nodded. Janessa had come and told her earlier about Sirius' odd behavior in the library.

"James blew me off. He's not concerned at all," Lily said.

"You should've seen Sirius. He seemed kind of. . . Too pleased," Janessa said. "Like he just finished having a really good wank or something."

"Ewe! Now that image is going to be in my mind forever," Lily complained.

"Evans," James said approaching the girls with Sirius at his side. "So what's Snivelly done that you had Sirius set out on him."

"Ah. . . Right," Lily said thinking to herself. "Why?"

"Oh, well, Sirius here told me if I wanted to know why he decided to torture Snape today I should ask you," James said.

Lily gave Sirius a look that distinctly said "sleep with one eye open tonight". But Sirius didn't care. He was tired of all of the lies and the games and just wanted Lily and Remus to come out with the truth already.

"Well. . . Remus and I were walking up from the dungeons after prefect duty last night and we saw," Lily said. "And then he was like 'Evans you're mudblood'."

"That's all?" James asked. It wasn't as if Snape hadn't called Lily that a thousand times

"No!" Lily quickly. "Then he said my mother sucks dragon balls and that I had no soul because I was a ginger."

"Well gingers don't have souls—everyone knows that," Sirius said.

"I'm going to kill you before the night is over," Lily said.

"Well, I don't know why old Snivelly was so unreasonably agitated this evening, but serves him right," James said. "What've you done to him anyway?"

Sirius laughed. "It's quite brilliant actually."

"Get on with it," Janessa said.

"No big deal really. Just told him that if he happened upon the whomping willow tonight and that if happened to magically move this magical knob on the tree he might happen to get it to stop moving and he might happen upon a secret passage way to the Shrieking Shack," Sirius said.

Lily, James, and Janessa all exchanged glances, thinking to themselves all at once that Sirius couldn't really be _that _stupid. Lily hardly gave him any credit at all where his intelligence was concerned, but she always thought that Sirius at least knew where the line was.

"You do realize that Remus is-."

They all shushed Janessa so that none of their classmates could hear her.

"Of course I know. Why else would I send him tonight?" Sirius asked.

"Excuse me, Professor, but the four of us, would like to be excused," James said to Professor Slughorn.

Slughorn stared at them confused as they dragged Sirius out into the hallway.

"Are you on crack or something?" Lily asked.

"Oh, come on. It's not a big deal," Sirius said.

"It kind of is," Janessa said.

"What is Snape goes all the way into the Shrieking shack and finds Remus and can't get away in time and Remus kills him?" James asked.

"I. . . Did not think about that," Sirius said.

"What do we do?" Lily asked.

"Sirius and I are going to go stop Snivellus before he gets himself killed and the two of you are going to go alert Dumbledore to this whole mess just in case things do go wrong. I'm sure he'll need some talking down after he sees a werewolf anyway," James said.

Janessa and Lily took off for Dumbledore's office on the other side of the castle. Once they reached the entrance they both stopped.

"Oh, shit. We do _not_ know the passowrd," Janessa said.

"It's all right," Lily said, trying to be calm. "It's Professor Dumbledore so it's just going to be candy right? So let's just name off all of the candy that we know until it opens."

"Okay—droobles?"

"Bertie Botts."

"Sherbert lemons."

"Chocolate frog."

"Pumpkin pastie."

"Edible quills."

"Regular jelly beans."

"Regular jelly beans, Janessa? Someone's life is at stake. Remus' continued mental stability is at stake. Could you be serious?" Lily asked.

"Sorry! I can't think of anymore!" Janessa said.

"Me either!" Lily said. "Damn those braces I had when I was 12. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have stopped eating candy and I would know."

"Oh! I think I've got it," Janessa said. "Whatchamacallit."

"That's not even a real word!" Lily said.

The gargoyle blocking the stairs took a step to the side and allowed them entrance up.

"But it is the name of a candy bar," Janessa said.

"I take back everything I said—I love you," Lily said.

"Baby, I know," she replied.

The girls ran up the stairs and immediately began banging on Dumbledore's door and calling for him.

A moment later a very perplexed Dumbledore appeared at the door.

"Miss Fluker. Miss Evans, shouldn't you be heading back to your houses?" he asked.

"Yes sir, but we have something really important to tell you," Janessa said.

"So basically Snape was really kind of a jerk to me and Remus last night after prefect duty and Sirius wanted to get him back for it, because that what he does, and apparently, he sent Snape into the Shrieking Shack where Remus is tonight and I know that you know Remus is a werewolf and we'd really like for him to not accidentally kill someone because that would suck even if we don't like Snape all that much," Lily said.

"And now, James and Sirius have gone after Snape to try to save him," Janessa said. "And where the hell is Peter?"

"Staying out of trouble obviously," Lily said.

Dumbledore took a moment and then nodded, giving the girls a bit of a smile.

"Well, then we'd better go and get them shouldn't we? Let's go," Dumbledore said.

He closed the door to his office and started to lead the girls downstairs to the entrance hall.

"Sir, don't you think we should be running or at least speed walking to the Whomping Willow?" Lily asked anxiously.

"Well if Snape set out for the Shrieking Shack and Misters Potter and Black also went after them even if we hurried, they'd surely be dead by the time we arrived if they were unsuccessful wouldn't they?" Dumbledore pointed out.

Lily and Janessa exchanged horrified glances.

"You are just a ray of sunshine, Sir," Janessa said.

They reached the entrance hall where, to the girls relief, James and Sirius were walking into the school with Snape at their side.

"Oh, thank goodness all of you are all right," Lily said.

"Just barely. Almost didn't get the door closed quick enough," James said. "We were almost werewolf fodder."

"Indeed," Dumbledore replied. "Thank you Miss Fluker and Miss Evans for alerting me to the trouble. Mister Potter, thank you for going to retrieve Snape. I'm sure he's grateful to you."

"Yes. So grateful," Snape said sarcastically.

"As for you Sirius, you seem to be the root cause of all sorts of trouble today. I'd like to speak to you and Severus in my office please. The rest of you will do well to return to your beds and I'm sure it goes without saying that you speak of this incident to no one," Dumbledore said.

"You got it, Professor," James said.


	27. Decisions Must Be Made

_[A/N: I was threatened with a pet dragon ages ago and it is only a miracle that the threat was not acted upon. So, here's your update, at long last.]_

It had been 10 minutes, and yet even after a full moon, and feeling completely horrible, Remus had not stopped whacking Sirius on the head with the spare bit of parchment yet.

"And you don't think and you're reckless and you're an idiot and I can't even count on one hand all of the completely idiotic things you've done your life! And now Snape of all people know which means your evil cousins and Malfoy and Lestrange have herd by now as well!" Remus shouted as he whacked him on the head.

"Moony, you're giving me a headache," Sirius whined.

"Well, you're lucky my arm is tired," Remus said lowering the parchment and collapsing onto his bed. "Dumbest. Idea. Ever."

"In retrospect, yes, but it seemed brilliant at the time," Sirius said.

"I think we should just ban you from having ideas," James said.

Peter watched all of this quietly, deciding not to say anything knowing that if he spoke up he'd be scolded too for not talking Sirius out of it in the first place.

"I should agree—25 house points and detention was probably better than I deserved," Sirius said.

"Well at least you're aware of your idiocy now," Remus said.

There was a knock on the door.

"Sirius. Open up. It's me." Sirius groaned and threw himself into his pillow at the sound of his on again off again girlfriend's voice.

"Veronica, I don't feel like fighting today. Can we break up some other time?" he asked.

Veronica pushed the door open, her roommates, stood not far off from her.

"I'm not here to fight—I'm just here to tell you what a massive idiot you are and that I hope you get Chlamydia," Veronica said tossing a box of his things to the ground.

"You don't actually want me to get that do you? That's just mean," Sirius said.

"You don't have the right to tell me that _I'm_ mean after what you did to Snape last night and after you cheated me on me for the umpteenth time. Fuck you," Veronica said.

Everyone observing this scene was beginning to feel incredibly uncomfortable, but trying to escape was out of the question as they would only draw unnecessary attention to themselves and end up taking some of Veronica's anger. On the flipside, they'd seen this scene play out so many times before that they were starting to get bored of it and secretly wondering to themselves when the couple was going to make up again.

"It was only one other girl," Sirius said.

"That you're willing to admit to. How many of them don't I know about?" she hissed.

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe three or four."

He was obviously lying just to irritate her, as was in Sirius' nature, but Veronica was too angry to put up with his jokes at that moment. She lifted her leg and kicked the box of Sirius' things across the room, slamming into his bedside table, and sending several of his things crashing to the ground.

"Veronica, relax, I was only foolin'," Sirius said.

"You're always foolin' Sirius. You can never be serious," she shouted at him. "But now I wash my hands of you. Play stupid pranks that nearly get people killed and fuck all the girls you like because I am _so_ over your bullshit."

Veronica turned and walked out of the room.

"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself," Lily said letting out a deep breath. It was true; she had stopped pitying Veronica for getting back together with Sirius knowing she would only get cheated on, but it didn't stop her from being irritated that Sirius was being a moron.

"People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, Evans," Sirius pointedly. "You act as if you haven't done anything that would be frowned upon recently."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Stirring up trouble too are you Lily?" James asked. "Mind if I get in on it."

She let out a sigh, almost seeming remorseful. "The whole point of it is for you _not_ to get involved, Potter. Sorry."

Lily walked out of the room and the girls followed.

"That was cryptic," James said. "She should stop lying though. I already know what she's getting into, or rather _who_ she's getting into."

Sirius, Peter, and Remus all exchanged glances. He _knew_?

"You know who she's with?" Peter asked.

"Yep," James said.

"And you're not angry?" Remus asked.

"Nope," James said. "I mean we're friends aren't we? I can't be too angry."

". . . You're serious right now?" Sirius asked.

"Of course I am," James said. "How could I lie about something like that? It's pretty obvious Lily is smitten with the guy after all, and the other way around. Besides, it can't last."

"Well that's kind of rude to say," Remus said.

"What? I mean, sure he's a good looking guy, but he's kind of bland for Lily isn't he?" James asked.

At this point, they realized that James was not talking about Remus and was still completely clueless.

"Who do you think she's dating?" Peter asked.

"That bloke from Ravenclaw, you know, Clearwater, the seventh year," James said.

"No. . . You have my personal guarantee she's not dating Seth Clearwater," Remus said shaking his head.

"Well it's obvious she's with someone now," James said. "You can tell by the way she floats around here."

"If you know she has a boyfriend then why are you still chasing after her?" Peter asked.

James shrugged. "I'm disrespectful like that. But anyway, who do you reckon it is?"

"Haven't the foggiest," Remus replied, rolling his eyes.

"Looks like we'll have to do some investigating," James said.

"Why can't we just let it be?" Peter asked. "Shouldn't you just be happy that she's happy?"

"I _am_ happy that she's happy. I'm just curious about who this bloke is all," James said.

"I dunno. You sound awfully sinister right now," Sirius said.

"Says the boy who led Ol' Snivelly to his near death last night," James said.

"Touché," Sirius replied.

888

"So Severus knows I'm dating Remus _and_ that he's werewolf. Not to mention I'm pretty sure he still has a half-naked picture of me from November," Lily said, while sitting with Sirius in Transfigurations.

"If you don't mind me saying, you are a very easy target for black mail," Sirius said.

"I don't mind—I am," Lily said with a sigh. "And not only that, but you say James is looking into who I'm dating now as well? That's splendid."

"I think the time has come for you to tell him the truth," Sirius said.

"Unfortunately, I think you might be right. We have to tell him before Severus does at least," Lily said.

"Well, when you tell him be sure to leave my name out of it," Sirius said.

Lily scoffed. "Are you kidding? I'm telling him it was your idea."

"How kind of you," Sirius replied.

"Anyway, I assume you and Veronica have made up," Lily said. "I'm not surprised; it's been about two weeks hasn't it?"

"We are turning into one of those couples aren't we?" Sirius asked.

Lily nodded. "Might not be the case if you didn't cheat on her so much."

"I can't help it," Sirius said.

"I think you very well can," she replied. "You need to learn to say no."

"This true," Sirius said.

"Mister Black, Miss Evans, you seem to be unable to control the volume of your voices. Is there something you'd like to share with the class?" McGonagall asked, interrupting their conversation.

"No, not anyone in particular," Sirius said smartly, earning an eye-roll from Lily.

"Will you converse with anyone I sit you next to?" McGonagall asked.

"Of course, Professor. Has it really taken you five years to figure that out?" Sirius asked. The class giggled while McGonagall remained stern and serious as usual.

"I'm glad you find yourself so amusing," McGonagall said. "Please note the five points from Gryffindor and try to keep it down."

"Sorry, Professor," Lily said elbowing Sirius in the ribs.

"Watch it," Sirius said.

"Are you incapable of giving a straight forward answer to authority figures?" she asked him.

"Nope," he replied.

"Should've known," Lily said. "Well, can you at least try to restrain yourself so I don't get dragged down with you?"

"No promises," he replied.

888

"You can walk up to him and say 'I'm dating Lily.'"

"And then he can punch me in the face," Remus said.

The couple was spending their prefect duty trying to deduce a proper way to break the news to James.

"Well, then I'll just walk up to him and say 'I'm dating Remus'," she said.

"And then he will _find_ me and punch me in the face," Remus said.

"Not every scenario will end up with you getting punched in the face," Lily said tiredly.

"Yes, they all will," he said.

"You're being dramatic," she said dismissively.

"Have you even mat James Potter?" Remus asked.

Lily sighed. It was, obviously, proving to be difficult.

"Okay, how about this, we wait until the end of the year and we tell him at King's Cross," she suggested.

"So he can go home and come back next year and never speak to us again?" Remus asked.

Lily sighed. "Well we have to either not tell him or you need to suck it up and let him punch you in the face."

"I don't like either of those options," Remus said with a frown.

"There is nothing I can do about that apparently," she said.

Remus sighed. "Maybe Sirius was onto something with the whole murdering Snape thing."

Lily rolled her eyes at him. "Unacceptable."

"I thought you might say that," he replied with a sigh. "But we have to tell James _before_ Snivelly decides that he really hates us. If it weren't for that, maybe we'd have more time. . ."

That's when Lily got an idea. One that she probably should've thought up ages ago, but it was here now and having no other options on the horizon, this was the one to go to.

"You know, Severus and I were good friends until a while ago," Lily said casually.

"Yeah," Remus said, wondering what she was getting at.

"Maybe I could, I dunno. . . Maybe if I talked to him I could somehow convince him to just let it go," Lily said.

"You're going to try to reason with Severus Snape?" Remus asked. Lily nodded. "You do realize that he hates us?"

"He doesn't hate us. He probably dislikes us. Maybe he hates James and Sirius but not us," she said.

"All the more reason why he would want to expose us because it would really, really hurt James and that's why it won't be so easy to convince him," Remus said.

"Well what else are we supposed to do, Remus? We're out of options until we can think of some way to tell James ourselves and since you don't want to get hit in the face then my idea is really the only one we've thought up so far that has merit," Lily pointed out.

"And what if Snape decides that he doesn't want to listen to you and that he's found a grand opportunity to go and tell James?" Remus asked.

"Then I'll run off and tell Potter myself before Snape has the chance to and we'll just have to deal with the consequences," Lily said. "Even if it involves you getting punched in the face."

Remus sighed, conceding to Lily's wishes. "You're just lucky you're worth getting punched in the face for."


	28. The Truth

Lily and Remus had decided that during OWLs they were going to tell James the truth. In the meant time, they were doing anything and everything to stay on Severus Snape's good side.

April turned into May and before they knew it, the time for OWLs had come upon them. The frequent studying and the end of the school year had thrown everyone in the Marauder's class into a bit of a daze. James wasn't busy chasing after Lily anymore, Lily and Remus knew that even Snape wasn't going to be bothered to bring up what he knew now, and the opportunity to tell James everything was finally upon them.

"You don't think they'll ask us to perform any stunning spells in the exam do you? I'm crap with stunning," Veronica said.

"I'm crap with everything," Janessa said. "If I flunk out of Hogwarts after this don't be shocked."

"Stop fretting, we're all going to do fine," Lily said.

"Easy for you to say Miss Genius Pants," Sirius said. Lily rolled her eyes.

"You not worried, Potter?" Lily asked.

"Oh, I'm terrified actually. Thanks for the vote of confidence though," he said.

"It's not like you're going to fail either Mister I Can Produce a Patronus at 15. They're going to pass you on the spot," Dana said.

"And the rest of us are going to go to our rooms tonight and cry ourselves to sleep over our failure," Peter said.

"Dark," Veronica commented.

"I just can't wait until school is over so we can all just go home and not have to worry about them anymore," Remus said.

"Until NEWTs anyway," Lily said.

The group let out a collective groan.

"I've decided that I'm quitting school to become a drifter," Veronica said. "I'm going to go find a walking stick and a handkerchief big enough to hold my possessions in it and walk around England telling people my miserable story."

"You are so dramatic," Remus said.

"You'll be fine. Just get through your OWLs and then things will be fine," Lily assured her. She glanced over at James who was currently debating on whether or not he was going to take another strip of bacon.

Lily wasn't concerned about her OWLs because at the moment they weren't the most pressing issue in her life.

888

When their written exam was all finished, Lily and the girls gathered outside on the lawn by the lake.

Janessa immediately laid down in the grass and took in the sunshine.

"I hate OWLs," Janessa said. "How many more have we got left?"

"Just the one tomorrow," Lily replied. "Potions."

Dana shook her head. "I'm awful at potions."

"Don't worry, I'll help you study," Lily said.

"I'll take that help too if you don't mind," Janessa said.

"What about you Veronica?" Dana asked.

"I've got a study date with Sirius tonight. I'll pass," Veronica said.

"So you're actually calling these explicit encounters with Sirius dates now are you?" Janessa asked.

Veronica scoffed. "It's not even like that this time. I actually need to pass my potions OWL."

"Well, good for you," Lily said. "In the meanwhile, I can help you two study after I get off prefect duty."

"Speaking of prefect duty, when are you going to tell your bestest buddy James about what you and Remus do when you're off duty?" Veronica asked.

Lily cringed and turned away from her. "We'll tell him, eventually."

"Before or after the wedding?" Veronica asked.

The girls giggled and Lily rolled her eyes again.

"Speak of the devil," Janessa said pointing. The boys had come to settle down by the tree. They seemed to be in a cheerful mood now that the test was over.

"We're planning on telling him today. Or tomorrow," Lily said. "Definitely before the week is out."

"Be still my beating heart," Veronica said. "When did you decide this?"

"A few weeks ago. I tried to talk to Severus about keeping his mouth shut, but he won't have it. We decided that now while he's a bit distracted it might be a good time," Lily said.

"I hope that all works out," Veronica said. "Honestly, I was getting a bit tired of covering for the two of you."

"Sorry to have put you all through this," Lily said. "But now it's almost over."

"Ugh, look at those idiots," Dana pointed out.

A crowd had gathered around James, Sirius, and Peter while Remus remained reading in his spot under the tree.

"Who are they harassing now?" Lily asked getting to her feet, ready to intervene as usual. Then she saw, with horror, that it was Snape. "Oh, shit."

Lily stated running towards the crowd and forced her way through to the front in time to see Snape choking on a mouth full of bubbles.

"Leave him ALONE!" Lily shouted.

"Hey, Evans. What's up?" James asked coolly, turning around to her.

"Leave him alone. What did he do to you?" Lily asked.

"Well. . . He was born and that upsets me," James said.

The crowd of students standing around laughed, but not Lily. She only continued to glare viciously at James. She was always peeved when he set out to harass Snape, but today especially he needed to keep his hands to himself.

"You're such a jerk Potter. Leave him alone," Lily said.

"Go out with me and I will," James said.

"I wouldn't go out with you if my other option were the giant squid that lives in the lake," Lily said quickly.

"That's cold Evans," Sirius said. "Hey! What do ya think yer doin?"

Snape shot a spell at James which cut him across the face spattering blood on him and a second later Snape was hanging in the air upside down by his ankles. His robes fell over his face revealing skinny pale legs and gross looking underpants.

"Let him down this instant," Lily said.

"Come on, James. Stop being a prat. Clearly, she is not impressed," Veronica said, crossing her arms.

"Alright," James said. He pointed his wand and Snape was on the ground. _"Petrificus Totalus"_

Snape went stiff.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Lily screamed, pulling out her wand and pointing it at James.

"I don't want to hex you, Evans," James said sincerely.

"The feeling is not mutual. Take the curse off him or I will hurt you," Lily said, also, very sincerely.

James muttered the counter curse and Snape was free. "You're lucky Evans was here to save-."

"I don't want that filthy little mudblood's help," Snape said.

Lily winced. She hated that word. Hated it even more coming out of Snape's mouth when she thought back to how they used to be friends.

"Hey! Apologize to Evans!" James said.

"I don't want you to make him apologize. You're just as terrible as he is," Lily said.

"What? I'd never call you. . . Well that," James said.

"I dunno know why. She hates you just as well," Snape said.

"You stay out of this!" Lily said.

"Why you're afraid I'll tell, Evans? Don't want Potter to know your little secret?" Snape asked.

"Shut your mouth or I'm going to hurt you," Veronica threatened.

Lily hushed her. She wasn't making the situation any better.

"What secret?" James asked.

"Nothing Potter," Lily said. Not like this, she thought to herself. He couldn't find out like this. Not when she was so close to telling him the truth on her own.

"Evans has a boy friend," Snape said.

"Shush it up," Lily said, directing her anger at Snape. Sirius had his hand clenched at his side, worry written all over his face.

"So what? It's not like I didn't see that coming," James said.

"Then why do you keep hitting on me?" Lily asked.

"It's in my nature," James said. Lily rolled her eyes. "If you're going to upset me, you'd better try harder."

Snape laughed.

". . . You don't know who your her little boyfriend is do you?" Snape asked.

"Severus. . . Please," Lily said pleadingly.

"Evans is dating your buddy Remus Lupin," Snape said.

Lily stared at Snape, pure rage boiling in the pit of her stomach. Sirius, Veronica, Dana, and Janessa looked panicked and guilty. James stood completely flabbergasted by the situation.

Smirking, Snape walked away.

Lily turned to James. Her heart was racing. She could see it all over his face, heartbreak, betrayal, everything she had been trying to hard to protect him from.

"Potter, I didn't mean for you to find out like this," Lily said. He turned his back to Lily and made beeline for Lupin.

Sirius, Dana, Janessa, Veronica and Lily followed closely behind.

Peter scurried out of the way as James slugged Lupin right in the face.

Lily let out a small yelp as Lupin spat blood from his mouth. Barely a second passed before James went in to hit him again, but this time Lily grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"Stop. You've got to stop," she said once they were out of earshot of the others.

"You were seeing Remus behind my back and you have the audacity to be upset with me?" James asked.

"You weren't meant to find out this way," Lily said with an apologetic sigh.

"And how was I meant to find out?" James asked.

"We were going to tell you," she said.

"Oh, really? Because you were really keen on having Snivellus over there keep his mouth shut. How long has this been going on? Did everyone know but me?" he asked.

Lily sighed. "We've been together since Christmas."

"Christmas?" James asked. It suddenly seemed so obvious to him now that Lily and Remus were together without his knowing. Everything seemed so obvious.

"Everyone knew—Sirius, Peter, Veronica, Dana, and Janessa. Snape saw us snogging once and that's how he found out," Lily said. "That's why Sirius sent up to the Shrieking Shack that night to scare him so he'd keep quiet."

James chuckled, not hiding his anger any longer.

"So you've all been working together as a team to keep it from me?" James asked.

"Well, what else were we supposed to do?" Lily asked. "I really like Remus and he likes me. And the whole reason he didn't want to be with me was because of you. The whole reason we didn't tell you was because you're his best friend and I don't think I'm worth ruining your relationship over. He wanted to tell you from the beginning what was going on but I didn't want to chance, well, well this."

James let out a huff.

"I know you fancy me like crazy, but you don't own me. I'm not your property. I'm not going to break up with Remus because you don't like that we have feelings for each other," Lily said with a sigh. "As hard as this is for me to even admit aloud. . . You're my friend. You're probably one of my best friends. It doesn't stop me from hating your guts and thinking that you're the king of all prats, but I don't want you to be hurt by this. And I definitely don't want you to punish Remus for liking me. You're his best friend. You have to forgive him. You have to get over this."

James thought for a moment, looking immensely irritated, before looking down at Lily again. He shook his head.

"Fuck, Evans," James said marching past her, back toward his friends.

Remus was on his feet by the time he got back to the tree. Sirius, Peter, Veronica, Dana, and Janessa all stood in silence while James frowned at Remus.

"I'm not sorry I punched you," James said. "I'd do it again."

"Don't worry. I know I deserved it," Remus said.

"Good, because you did deserve it," James said. He sighed. "Just. . . No more lies and don't go around snogging her in front of me all like that because that's just rude and I hold you to a higher standard than that."

"Wait. . . Are you. . . Are you actually okay with this?" Lily asked.

James scoffed. "Hell no, but it's like you said. Moony here is my best friend. I really can't stay mad at him, or you for that matter, Evans."

Lily instantly relaxed and even managed a smile. 

"I will lay off of your girlfriend and I won't hit you in the face anymore," James said. "I guess. . . I guess we're cool."

"That's really decent of you, James," Remus said.

"Yeah, I know. I'm a pretty decent guy, otherwise you wouldn't have gone through all of that trouble keeping it from me to spare my feelings," he said.

"Even from this situation you find a way to inflate your ego. That is impressive," Janessa said.

"Don't go on sounding all innocent, Fluker. I know the lot of you were all in on it," James said.

"Yeah, because we love you," Peter said.

"It's true. We had good intentions and executed them poorly," Sirius said.

"But, everything is out in the open, everyone is still friends, the Marauders have survived another year," Veronica said. "Rejoice!"

"We can all rejoice later. In the meant time I think we've still got OWLs to finish up," James said.

"Dammit, Potter we were about to have a moment and you totally ruined it," Janessa said.

"I don't know about you, but I think I've had enough moments for one day," James said. "Now, in the mean time we should probably get you to the hospital wing, Remus. And if anyone ask you ran into a door."

"Our relationship is starting to sound borderline abusive," Remus said.

James smirked. "Just the way it should be."


	29. Everyone's Got a Little Marauder in Them

_[A/N: It only took my five years, but I am finally ending this series, though I will continue their story soon! Stay tuned!]_

Lily awoke on the last morning of her fifth year to the sounds of Veronica going off on a rant.

Lily climbed out of bed and saw Veronica tossing all of her belongings into her trunk while complaining about Sirius to Janessa.

"What's happened now?" Lily asked.

"Sirius is a lying, cheating, no good, skirt chasing cad and I hope he burns in hell for the rest of eternity," Veronica said.

"So he's cheated on you again?"Lily asked.

"And this time it's not like he's snogged some other tramp behind my back. He actually shagged Lacey Flynn. He actually thought it was a good idea to actually hussy of the year, Lacey Flynn," Veronica said.

"He slept with Lacey Flynn from Slytherin?" Lily asked.

"Lacey Flynn from Slytherin," Veronica laughed. "Fuckin' Lacey Flynn from Slytherin. But it's fine. Lacey Flynn is a bitch and I don't care who she fucks. Sirius Black was supposed to be my boyfriend. He was supposed to be in love with me so he's not supposed to be sleeping with anyone he wants to. Just with me."

"When did this happen?" Lily asked.

"After we got back together in April. I'm surprised no one spilled about it until now," Veronica said. "But, I'm done with Sirius."

"Really?" Janessa asked.

"Yes. Really. Now he can shag anyone he wants to," Veronica said. "You are so lucky Remus isn't an asshole."

"Aren't I just," Lily said. "Where's Dana?"

"She had to walk Sirius to the hospital wing after I punched him in the throat," Veronica said dismissively.

"You punched him in the throat?" Lily asked.

"Yes she did. One hard right to the throat. It was pretty funny until he started gasping for air," Janessa said.

"I told him to tell Madame Pomfrey that he accidentally hit his neck against one of his bed post or I'd castrate him," Veronica said.

"I'm really starting to become concerned with how our friends keeping lying to Madame Pomfrey because they keep hurting each other," Janessa said.

"Well, Sirius and I aren't friends so it doesn't really count," Veronica said.

The door to the bedroom opened and in leaned the little first year, Sam.

"Hello," she said excitedly, bouncing up and down making her auburn ponytail flail every which way behind her head.

"Sam, how are you?" Veronica asked.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to say goodbye," she said. "You've been so nice to me all year, Veronica, and everyone in my year think I'm so cool because I've got a friend who's a fifth year. Except a lot of people think you're a bit mad because you're always fighting with Sirius Black."

"I am a little bit mad," Veronica said with a smile. "You stay away from stupid boys, Sammy. They are nothing but trouble."

"I'll remember that," Sam said. "Goodbye, Janessa. Dandelion."

Lily chuckled. "That joke just. . . Just keeps staying funny."

Sam smiled and backed out of the room.

"Your little munchkin friend is really just adorable," Lily said.

"I love Sam. You know she's an orphan," Veronica said. "She lives in an orphanage in Wales. She said her parents died when she was seven and she didn't have any other family and she's muggle born so she was just starting to discover she was weird and they didn't know what else to do with her so they chucked her in an orphanage."

"How sad," Lily said.

"She told me she misses her parents from time to time, but they were rather unscrupulous people if you follow my meaning," Veronica said. "She said now the only thing that makes her a little bit sad is that now that she's going to Hogwarts and spending so much time away from the orphanage it's unlikely that she'll ever be adopted which is kind of what she really wants, but I've developed a plan to change all that."

"Oh, have you?" Lily asked.

Veronica nodded. "I'm going to ask my parents to take her in. I know they loathe the idea of having another daughter since I am such a screw up and they wanted a boy, but my parents really love doing things that make them look like good people."

"Well, I hope that all works out then," Janessa said. "For both of you."

888

Lily finished packing and made her way down to the Great Hall alone. She'd hoped she'd find Remus there, but the only one of the Marauders to be seen was James. Lily took a seat across from him and smiled. Despite the fact that he had decided to let go of Lily, there was still an air of awkward tension between them. Lily hoped the uneasiness would pass and that they could go back to the way things were before.

"Morning, Evans," James said.

"Heard Veronica punched Sirius in the throat," Lily replied.

"Yeah. I saw the whole thing. Think she almost killed him actually," James said. "It was quite funny until he stopped breathing. Now Remus and Peter are packing up his things for him while Madame Pomfrey gets him all healed up."

"I'm glad this year is over. I think it's been a bit horrible, to be honest," Lily admitted.

James shrugged. "I think the ending sucked a bit, but I've definitely had worse and probably will have worse."

Lily agreed with a quick nod as she filled a bowl with a ladle of oatmeal.

"You know, I am really am sorry about all this," she said.

"Don't worry about it, Evans. If I weren't such an idiot I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place would I?" he asked. "But just so you know, if things don't work out with you and ol' Moony, come find me."

"You'll be the first person I looked up," Lily said rolling her eyes. Old habits did die hard.

"Look who I've brought back from the hospital," Dana announced, sitting down at the table with Sirius.

"How are you mate?" James asked.

"Feel like I just got punched in the throat," Sirius said in almost a whisper. "I think things with Veronica and me are officially over."

"I'll say, though there's no telling with the two of you," Lily replied. "Maybe you'll both find someone who makes you happy, or in your case someone who approves of your apparently polyamorous lifestyle."

"I can't believe you're wishing me the best instead of insulting me like usual," Sirius said.

Lily shrugged. "I dunno. I think I actually like you a lot more than I originally thought I did. Initially I only got friendly with you because you were dating my best friend, but I think I just like having you around."

"This is so weird," Sirius said.

"I know. She called me her friend before to," James said.

"You don't think Remus has put some kind of curse on her to make her not act like a bitch anymore do you?" Sirius asked.

"I can still hear you," Lily said. "And no, I'm not cursed or anything like that; I think you guys are legitimately my friends."

"Well, in that case I shall tone down the frequency with which I refer to you as a bitch," Sirius said.

"I appreciate that," Lily said.

"Ah, looks like someone is all recovered," Remus said as he joined the rest of the group at the table. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, but I almost died," Sirius said. "I almost suffocated. Madame Pomfrey said I nearly crushed my lorax."

"Lorax? Like the Doctor Seuss Book?" Lily asked.

"No, I think he meant larynx as in his voice box," Remus said.

"Lorax. Larynx. Whatever," Sirius said.

"Well, one is a children's book that talks about the dangers of industrialism and deforestation," Lily started, "and the other is-."

"Not today, Evans," Sirius said silencing her. "Just shut up and eat your oatmeal."

"Rude," Lily said.

"Hey, if we're going to be friends you have to get the same treatment I give everyone else," Sirius said.

"I'd reconsider this if I were you, Lily," Dana said.

"No," Lily said with a smile. "There are worse human beings Sirius Black."

At that moment a bagel landed in Lily's hair, cream cheese side up before slowly sliding down the back of her head to the floor. She turned around and saw her favorite Slytherin's giggling on the other side of the Great Hall.

"Those guys for example," Lily said.

"Who the fuck threw that bagel at my new friend, Lily Evans?" James shouted to them.

"Someone threw a bagel at you?" Veronica asked joining them, examining Lily's hair. "Whose ass do I have to kick now?"

"Yeah, she's punching bitches loraxes today," Sirius said.

"Larynxes," Remus corrected him.

"That too," Sirius said.

"She'll break your lorax and your larynx," Janessa chimed in.

"And once again, Peter, we are the only normal ones," Dana said.

"I'm normal too," Lily said.

"Someone just threw a bagel at your head," Peter said. "And also you're a ginger and everyone knows that gingers don't have souls."

"Fine, if I'm so weird," Lily said getting to her feet. She picked up the bagel from the ground and hurled right across the room nailing Bellatrix Black right in her laughing face. There was an audible gasp heard throughout the Great Hall.

"You just hit Bellatrix in the face with a bagel," Remus said. "You don't qualify as normal anymore." 

"I think she stopped qualifying as normal when she tried to tackle Narcissa across the dinner table at Christmas actually," Sirius said.

"You're going to pay for that, Evans," Bellatrix said.

"Am I?" Lily asked. "Well here I stand, do your worst."

"You're suddenly so brave now that you've got your friends to protect you," Bellatrix said.

"That's what friends are for. They're supposed to make you feel brave and make you strong. Good friends do that. And besides, I'm all about bravery. Maybe you forgot but this is Gryffindor, bitch," Lily said. "So like I said, do your worst."

Bellatrix glared at Lily before turning her nose up.

"You're not worth it, Evans," Bellatrix said.

"No, I bet I'm not," Lily said.

"Go to hell, Evans," Bellatrix said as she and her gang started to head out of the Great Hall.

"Why don't you take that weak shit to the park? Maybe the squirrels will care," Lily said.

Bellatrix turned and glared at Lily one last time. Lily merely smiled.

"What was that, Evans?" James asked.

"I think you've got a little marauder in you yet," Sirius said patting Lily on the back.

"Oi, don't go getting all friendly with my best friend. You may be friends, but you can only talk when I'm not around," Veronica said.

"That's no fair," Sirius said.

"Tough cookies," Veronica said tossing her arm around Lily.

"Well, she's dating my best friend," Sirius said pulling Lily away from Veronica.

"Oh, no, there's some sort of custody battle going on over Lily," Peter said.

"I think we need a mediator," Janessa said.

"Allow me," James said stepping in. "As an unbiased third party member I declare that, as Lily did not come to be friends with Sirius until Veronica was dating him, Veronica Danes is granted primary custody of Lily Evans."

"Yes!" Veronica cheered.

"Sirius Black is awarded visiting right on weekends and every other Wednesday," James said. "And they can share visits with her at dinner time come start of sixth year."

"Fine," Sirius said in a huff. "I'm only agreeing because I don't want her to smash my lorax again."

"Larynx. She almost smashed your _larynx_," Remus corrected him.

"It's no use. You know he's an idiot," Dana said rolling her eyes.

"Veronica can have you. You were always my least favorite," Sirius said.

"Oh, it breaks my heart to hear you say that," Dana said rolling her eyes. "How shall I ever go on living?"

"Dana, you are a completely horrible and mean person," Sirius said.

"That's nice to say to the person who just took you to the hospital wing and saved your life," she replied, once again, rolling her eyes.

"Yes, and the whole way there all you did was tell me how much I deserved it," he replied.

"Excuse as I look for a fuck to give," she replied finally.

"My goodness, my roommates are just full of clever quips this morning," Janessa said.

"I've noticed. It's very impressive," James said.

"It's probably because you've had such a bad influence on them," Remus said.

"_Or_ a good influence," James said.

"I'm betting it's probably bad," Peter said with a nod.

"Well, at any rate, you've all been interesting at least," Lily said. "This whole year has been interesting."

"My favorite part of this year was still when you tried to attack Narcissa," Sirius said. "My least favorite part was getting my lorax punched."

At this Remus started to repeatedly slam his head against the table.

"You're so easy, mate," Sirius chuckled.

"So is your mom," Remus replied.

"Hey—my mother may be the most horrible human being ever to step foot on this planet, but she is not easy," Sirius said.

". . . Aren't your parents first cousins?" Dana asked.

"What?" Janessa asked, laughing and at the same completely appalled. "That's nasty."

"I know," Sirius said. "It's a wonders I turned out so normal."

"Normal is not the word I would use," Remus said. "Defective maybe."

"Inbred is the word," Janessa said. "Also, gross. Like there three main people in the world you're not supposed to procreate with, your parents, your siblings, and your first cousin because genetic chaos is bound to ensue. Even if it's not with you. Your future children might end up with like six toes and two heads."

"Well if it has two heads it'll still be smarter than him," Veronica said.

Sirius laughed. "That. . . That was mean."

"You cheated on me more times than I can count. I deserve to be a little mean," Veronica said.

"You were already. You almost broke my lorax," Sirius said.

"God forbid you should ever have children!" Remus exclaimed.

"Calm down," Lily said patting him on the shoulder.

"Holy balls, look at the time," Janessa said looking down at her watch. "I think it's time we headed for the train."

It was nearly 10:30 now. It was time for the gang to finally say goodbye to their fifth year.

"I guess I'd better go and find that brother of mine," Sirius said.

"I keep forgetting you have a brother," Janessa said.

"I keep trying to forget," Sirius said.

"We'll meet you on the train," Peter said.

"Oh, and you two have prefect duty don't you?" Veronica whined.

"Sadly," Remus said.

"But I will be with you for lunch," Lily said throwing her arms around Veronica.

"What about the rest of us?" James asked, feigning sadness.

"Well you can join us, though I expect the cabin will be a bit crowded with eight people in it," Janessa said.

"You'll have to lap sit," Veronica said.

"You can sit on my lap, Remus, I know you've got a nice soft ass," James said.

"That's awkward to say," Lily said.

"And I'll just not ask why you would know that," Remus said.

"Maybe you want to know," James said with a wink.

"Damn, you're creepy," Veronica said.

"I'm going to get my things before your creepiness rubs off on me," Janessa said.

"Likewise," Veronica said.

"I'm just going to follow you. You cannot escape the creepy," James said chasing after the girls. Peter shook his head in pity and followed.

Lily and Remus were left alone at the table.

"Our friends are weird," Remus said.

"When they're weird they're only your friends. I only claim them when they're not talking about your buttocks," Lily said.

"I supposed that's fair," Remus said. He held out his hand to Lily. "Shall we go and stop James." 

Lily smiled and took his hand. "Let's."


End file.
